* Deficit at 5.8 pct of GDP in 2009
* Government sees it at 5.6 pct this year
* Analysts urge public sector reform
By Marja Novak
LJUBLJANA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Figures on Thursday showed euro zone member Slovenia's budget deficit jumped to 5.8 percent of domestic output in 2009, underlining the importance of cutbacks which have prompted a nationwide public sector strike.
The figure was released only a day after the EU Commission proposed new sanctions for euro zone countries that bridge budget deficit ceiling of 3 percent of GDP [ID:nBRQ009982].
The Slovenian government, which boosted the deficit mainly by high spending on measures designed to ease the consequences of the recession, hopes to bring the deficit down to 5.6 percent this year and cut it to below 3 percent by the end of 2013.
About half of Slovenia's public sector or some 80,000 employees went on strike on Monday to protest against the government's plan to freeze public sector wages until the end of 2011 [ID:nLDE68QoVD].
But Prime Minister Borut Pahor said on Tuesday the curb on public sector wages, pensions and social benefit payments was necessary to strengthen Slovenia's competitiveness [ID:nLDE68R24C].
"Slovenia cannot sustain such a high deficit for a long time. The government has to reduce public sector wages or cut jobs there. The reform of the public sector is urgent," Saso Polanec of the Ljubljana's Faculty of Economy, told Reuters.
The government also plans to launch reforms of the pension and health systems next year in order to curb the deficit.
Slovenia had been the fastest growing euro zone member before the global downturn but its export-oriented economy shrank by 8.1 percent last year. The government expects economic growth of 0.9 percent this year.
Statistics office also reported inflation fell to 2.1 percent year-on-year from 2.4 percent in August and the government's macroeconomic institute said figures show that annual average inflation this year should not exceed the institute's forecast of 2.1 percent.
(Reporting by Marja Novak, Edited by Patrick Graham)