The Spanish government has admitted that it will miss this year's budget deficit target of 4.5 per cent of GDP by a wide margin, in the latest sign of the toll that the economic crisis is taking on public finances. (Includes link to Spanish Central Bank economic forecast.)
Officials in Madrid said on Tuesday that the government was now forecasting a deficit of about 6 per cent of GDP – lower than last year’s shortfall of 7 per cent but a smaller improvement than Madrid originally planned.
The European Commission had signalled that it was ready to give Madrid more time to meet its budget targets, but Brussels has yet to set a new ceiling or decide how much longer Spain will have to bring its wayward budget back into line. Under the current agreement, Spain must reduce its deficit to below 3 per cent of GDP in 2014 – a goal that is already in effect out of reach.
Madrid is widely expected to reveal a significant revision to its growth forecast in the coming weeks; they currently stand at -0.5 per cent against a consensus prediction of about -1.5 per cent.
Full article
See also Spanish Central Bank published its new economic forecasts, 26.3.13
© Financial Times
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article