It also said local banks, some of which the state had to bail out last year, achieved a joint pre-tax profit of 121 million euros ($150 million) in the first nine months of the year versus a loss of 561 million in the same period of 2013.

"Slovenia has to reduce (its budget) deficit in 2015 to below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to demands of the European Commission, therefore additional consolidation measures have to be taken which represents one of the main risks to economic growth in 2015," the bank said after its regular board meeting.

In September the central bank forecast 2015 growth of 1.3 percent, down from 1.6 percent this year. According to the European Commission, Slovenia's budget deficit will reach 4.4 percent of GDP this year, down from 14.7 percent in 2013 when the state poured more than 3 billion euros into local banks weighed down by bad loans.

The central bank said Slovenia's economic prospects for the end of this year were "favourable" because of growing exports and industrial output, a fall in unemployment, greater consumer purchasing power and stronger private business sentiment.

It did not say whether economic growth this year would be higher than the bank's forecast of 1.6 percent but last week Deputy Prime Minister Dejan Židan predicted 2.4 percent growth this year after two years of recession. Slovenia's centre-left government plans to cut the public sector wage bill by 3 percent next year and raise some taxes in order to reduce the budget deficit.