Finance Minister Janez Sustersic said the aim is to cut the central government budget deficit to about 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from 4.3 percent in 2011.
Sustersic also told a news conference the government plans to reduce its stake in Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) to 25 percent from 55 percent at present.
"We expect budget income of about 7.8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) this year and our goal is that the (central government) deficit would be around 1 billion euros or 3 percent of GDP," Sustersic said.
The new centre-right government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa, which was confirmed by parliament earlier this month, plans to finalise its 2012 budget plan by the end of March, cutting spending to about 8.8 billion euros from 9.4 billion spent in 2011.
"The latest GDP data, which was a negative surprise, strengthened our belief that we need to adjust public spending to economic possibilities," Sustersic added.
The statistics office said earlier on Wednesday Slovenia's GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in 2011 amid lower export demand and a fall in domestic spending, while the government's macroeconomic institute said Slovenia's economy might contract in 2012 as well.
Sustersic said he hoped the government would sell NLB in coming months so the state budget does not have to provide 400 million euros to strengthen the bank's capital by the end of June in line with demands by the European Banking Authority.
NLB's second-largest owner is Belgian banking and insurance group KBC with a stake of 25 percent.
Sustersic told Reuters earlier this month the government hoped to reduce the general budget deficit, which also includes the budgets of the national pension and health funds and the local communities, to 3.5 percent of GDP from about 6 percent in 2011. He also said the plan was to get it down to the EU ceiling of 3 percent in 2013.