Spain vows to save 102 billion euros over coming two years
MADRID, Aug 4 — The Spanish government said on Friday that it had submitted its budget plan for 2013 and 2014 to the European Commission in which it pledged to save 102 billion euros, which it hoped to achieve by boosting revenues and cutting expenditure.
The Treasury said the plan included the measures unveiled on July 13 that included savings of 65 billion euros (RM251 billion), but did not clarify how it had arrived at the new savings figure.
"The 102 billion in savings to 2014 assumes all the measures that have been announced so far will be fully in place and also factors in the prevailing macroeconomic conditions," a Treasury spokeswoman said.
Spain needs to erase 65 billion euros from its public deficit in order to reach EU debt reduction targets by 2014. It must cut its public deficit of 8.9 per cent of gross domestic product to 6.3 per cent in 2012, 4.5 per cent in 2013 and 2.8 per cent the year after.
The government is basing its forecast on anticipated growth in gross domestic product of 1.2 per cent in 2014 after two consecutive years of recession, in which it expects the economy to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2012 and by 0.5 per cent in 2013.
