Slovenian deficit to surge 10% with bank bailout

Slovenia's budget deficit reached 5.5 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter, and is expected to soar by more than 10 percentage points by the end of the year due to the bailout of the country's banks, official figures showed on Monday. Slovenia's plan to salvage its three leading banks will cost it 3.6 billion euros (4.95 billion dollars) this year, dpa reported. "We're talking about 10.3 per cent GDP there that will be attributable to bank recapitalization," the STA news agency quoted Andrej Flajs of the national Statistics Office as saying. The debt is also expected to surge by around 10 percentage points, from the present 62.6 per cent of GDP, Flajs said. Slovenia unveiled the bank salvage plan on December 12, averting an EU bailout, which would have been come with tough conditions. The European Commission has approved Slovenia's bank recapitalization plan.