Swiss book 2009 budget surplus, profit on UBS stake

* Swiss make more than 1 billion Sfr profit on UBS bailout

* Swiss pay down govt debt in 2009 despite recession

* Finance Minister says UBS in good health

BERNE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Switzerland booked a federal budget surplus of 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.51 billion) in 2009 and paid down debt despite reeling from the worst recession in decades.

Switzerland's fiscal health stands in stark contrast to that of the United States and many European countries, many of whom were forced to borrow massively to finance bank bailouts and government stimulus packages to fight recession last year.

Switzerland also made an exceptional profit of more than a billion francs on the bailout of UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N), which last week reported its first quarterly net profit after four quarters of losses.

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz gave a cautious outlook on the public finances.

"We are in a difficult phase because companies did not make much money last year and this is continuing," he said at a media conference.

Direct federal taxes in Switzerland react to economic cycles with a delay of one to two years, the ministry said.

The finance ministry said it had overall been able to reduce federal debt by some 11 billion francs last year.

Finance minister Merz also said UBS had returned to good health.

The government injected 6 billion francs into the battered Swiss banking giant in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in exchange for a 9 percent stake. The government sold its stake in UBS last August and made about 7.2 billion francs by selling mandatory convertible bonds. [ID:nWEA7154] (Reporting by Catherine Bosley and Lisa Jucca, editing by Mike Peacock)