UPDATE 1-Slovakia FinMin says sticks to 2011 budget plan

                                
 * Fiscal gap to be cut by 2.5 pct points of GDP in 2011
                                
 * Two-thirds to come from the expenditure side
                                
 
                                
 (Adds quotes, details, background)
                                
 BRATISLAVA, July 30 (Reuters) - Slovak Finance Minister Ivan
Miklos reiterated on Friday government plans to cut the 2011
fiscal gap by 2.5 percentage points of GDP, and said around
two-thirds of the savings would come on the expenditure side.
                                
 "We stick to our plan that fiscal consolidation next year
should be around 2.5 percentage points of the gross domestic
product (GDP), or 1.7 billion euros," Miklos told reporters.
                                
 "I will submit a plan designed that the majority of that
amount should come from expenditure savings and minority stake
from higher revenues. The ration should be two-thirds in
expenditures, one-third in revenue."
                                
 The euro zone's poorest member plans to slash the fiscal
deficit to below the European Union's 3 percent of the gross
domestic product in 2013, down from around 7 percent seen this
year.
                                
 The government of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, which took
power on July 9 and ousted the leftist cabinet of former Prime
Minister Robert Fico, has made fiscal consolidation its top
priority, but plans no hike in taxes to achieve its goals.
                                
 Miklos, a fiscal hawk who oversaw the country's euro
adoption process and helped to introduce wide-reaching market
reforms as Finance Minister in the 2002-2006 period, said a
faster tightening would harm recovery of the heavily
export-reliant economy.
 "Bigger savings could harm the economic recovery, but a
slower consolidation could risk our plan to get the gap under 3
percent in 2013," he added.
                                
 Based on the programme, the cabinet wants to achieve a
balanced budget in the mid-term, draft a constitutional law on
fiscal responsibility, introduce caps on government expenditure
and simplify the tax system.
                                
 Foreign investors will be allowed to acquire stakes in the
rail freight company Cargo and in Bratislava airport. Radicova's
cabinet may also sell stakes in the country's regional bus
companies andmajor heating plants.
                                
 (Reporting by Martin Santa; Editing by Ron Askew)