Ljubljana, Apr 27 (IANS): The Slovenian government is aiming to reduce its budget deficit and public debt in the coming years, it said while announcing a bigger deficit expected this year.

The country's budget deficit this year is expected to rise to 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from a share of 3.9 per cent in 2022, the government said.

Meanwhile, public debt should gradually fall to 63.5 per cent of GDP by the end of 2026, from 69.9 per cent at the end of 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

Slovenia's deficit should fall to 2.8 per cent of GDP in 2024, in line with European Union rules requiring member states to keep their deficits below 3 per cent of GDP.

"In the years 2025 and 2026 the fiscal effort should enable further reduction of deficit to 2.2 and 1.3 per cent of GDP," the government said in a statement.

Last year, the government took hefty measures to help citizens and companies overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, and also managed to cut deficit and debt which had both increased sharply during the pandemic.

With a GDP growth of 5.4 per cent last year, Slovenia expects its GDP to increase by 1.8 per cent this year, and accelerate to 2.5 per cent in 2024, mainly counting on the growth of exports, household spending and investments.