Slovenia's government predicted its central budget deficit would fall to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 from 5.0 percent this year, as it began preparing Monday its budget for the next two years. In 2011, the government expected the budget gap to fall further to 3.5 percent of GDP, Development Minister Mitja Gaspari told a news conference after a government meeting on the country's next two-year budget. 'That would mark the beginning of the fiscal consolidation Slovenia needs to stabilise its system and to meet the euro system requirements,' Gaspari said. The government did not predict the country's public deficit in the next two years. Slovenia, which entered the eurozone in 2007, revised its 2009 budget last month, setting the public deficit at 5.5 percent of GDP, well above the EU limit of 3.0 percent laid down in the bloc's Stability and Growth Pact. The government also set the framework for the 2010-2011 budget on Monday and capped spending for 2010 at 10.22 billion euros (14.41 billion dollars) from 9.76 billion euros planned for the current year, he said. Slovenia officially entered recession in June, after two consecutive quarters of negative growth. GDP contracted by 4.1 percent in the last three months of 2008, and by 6.4 percent from January to March 2009. The government is expected to send to parliament the budget proposal for 2010 and 2011 in September. 