The supplementary budget reduces the budget revenue planned for the year by EUR 20m to EUR 8.6bn and increases expenditure by EUR 177m to EUR 9.8bn. As a result, the deficit will expand to 3.4% of GDP from 3.2% in the original budget plans.

The causes for the missed deficit goal include underestimated spending on interest and pensions. The former figure is EUR 151m higher than planned in the budget, while the latter exceeds the plan by EUR 124m.

Revenues have also missed targets from the initial document, due mainly to the failure to implement a real estate tax.

On the spending side, the budget includes cuts of around EUR 40m across several ministries compared to the original plan. This includes cuts in spending on materials and the freezing of funds which have not been used on EU-backed projects.

The consolidation of public finances and restarting of the economy are priorities for the government, Prime Minister Miro Cerar and Finance Minister Dušan Mramor told MPs in presenting the 2014 supplementary budget on Tuesday.

As part of efforts to put its finances in order, the government is planning to reduce the budget deficit to below 3% of GDP in 2015.

The aim is to achieve a fully balanced budget by 2017, the pair said, adding that fiscal consolidation measures would be gradual and crafted so as not to stifle the fledgling economic growth, Cerar and Mramor announced.

The opposition is however critical of the changes, saying the supplementary budget for 2014 is as a prelude to severe cuts in 2015.

The costs of the crisis have so far been paid for by the middle and lower classes, a trend that will continue under the supplementary budget, Luka Mesec from the United Left (ZL) said, also arguing the cuts would put a brake on positive economic trends.

Concern over reduction of funds for investment at the level of local government and for social security was also expressed by the New Slovenia (NSi).