| Spain likely to get more time to meet deficit goal |
BRUSSELS Europe will grant Spain an extra year to reach its deficit targets after it outlines further budget savings to finance ministers meeting in Brussels, diplomats said on Monday.
Although no final decision is expected at a Monday meeting of euro zone finance ministers on a bailout of Spain’s banks, a wider gathering of EU finance chiefs on Tuesday is set to ease a debt goal that has pressured Madrid to make punishing cuts that are exacerbating a recession.
“Spain’s budget consolidation targets will be adjusted to give it an extra year,” said one of the diplomats.
“This is not a unilateral move. Spain needs to make the necessary cuts to reach that goal and this will be discussed on Tuesday at the Ecofin (meeting of ministers). I expect the extra year to be granted.”
Officials said the European Commission will propose a new deficit goal of 6.3 per cent of economic output for this year, 4.5 per cent for 2013 and 2.8 per cent for 2014.
Madrid had been due to reduce its budget deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of 2013. But a deep recession is putting that beyond reach.
The Commission will make the proposal to the EU’s finance ministers on Tuesday, who would then have to agree. At that point it would become binding, two officials told Reuters.
Economy Minister Luis de Guindos will spell out to the meeting his government’s plan for a package of up to 30 billion euros over several years through spending cuts and tax hikes that are due to be announced this Wednesday. A source close to the Spanish government said 10 billion euros of cuts would come this year and that the measures would include a VAT hike, reduced social security payments, reduced unemployment benefits and changes to pensions calculations.
A decision on the full details of a bailout of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) Spain has requested for its banks is also due shortly.
A Spanish government source said it would sign a memorandum of understanding on Monday in Brussels regarding the rescue, which would be followed on July 20 by a full loan agreement. As part of that, it will agree to create a single bad bank to house toxic assets from its banking sector.
While Madrid strives to cut its debts and shore up its struggling banks, it has consistently pleaded for help to get down its borrowing costs. Spanish 10-year government bond yields above seven per cent are not sustainable indefinitely.
“At this moment the only institution that has enough money to act is the ECB,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said at a conference.
Reuters
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