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CRISIS-HIT SPAIN wants the European Union to ease the country’s deficit target for 2013 to around 6.0 per cent of GDP, from the original target of 4.5 per cent, a government source has said.
Madrid also wants the EU to agree to give Spain an extra year to bring its deficit to below the bloc’s maximum threshold of 3.0 per cent of gross domestic product, the source added.
“It will be in that range,” the source said when asked about Spanish media reports that Spain was seeking to ease its deficit target for 2013 to 6.0 per cent.
Spain is expected to present its Stability Programme for 2013-16 – an outline of how it will comply with European budgetary rules which will include deficit and economic growth forecasts – to the EU next month.
A similar one-year extension has previously been offered to Ireland, which originally presented a four-year programme to comply with the 3 per cent rule by 2014. The deadline was extended to 2015 when the Fine Gael-Labour coalition entered office.
Last week the country posted a 2012 public deficit of 7.0 per cent, up from the 6.7 per cent figure for the year it originally announced in February and above the 6.3 per cent target it agreed with the EU.
Spain recorded a public deficit of 9.4 per cent in 2011.
The government’s original deficit target of 4.5 per cent in 2013 and 2.8 per cent in 2014 are considered unrealistic by most analysts.
The Spanish economy, the eurozone’s fourth biggest, contracted by 1.4 per cent last year – the second worst annual slump since 1970 – and the Bank of Spain predicted last week that it will shrink by 1.5 per cent this year before posting a “modest rebound” in 2014 with growth of 0.6 per cent.
Prime minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government had predicted output would contract by a more modest figure of 0.5 per cent this year and grow by 1.2 per cent in 2014 – but last month it said it would have to revise its forecast.
El Pais reported Friday that the government’s new forecast saw the economy contracting by 1.0 per cent this year but the government source declined to “confirm any figure”.
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Sounds like someone has just watched the Unibomber on Netflix and got some ideas…
@ciaran kavanagh: more like the Zip Gun Bomber
“Police were considering whether racial hatred was a factor”. More like “Police were asked by the divisive media if they were considering whether racial hatred was a factor”
@JimmyMc: “divisive” media? You mean one asking an obvious question considering the background of the victims?
@JimmyMc: The profile of the victims would naturally lead to this suspicion.
@Brendan O’Brien: why would it naturally lead to that suspicion? Most crimes committed against people of colour are perpetrated by their fellow people of colour.
@Brad Carmichael: And racist crime/terrorism is also a thing, particularly in this era of far-right emboldenment.
@Brad Carmichael: Is white not a colour too?
@wrong side: no white is not a colour. Neither is black.
@Brendan O’Brien: so is Islamic terror maybe they were targeted for being christians ?, your usually one of the first telling everyone to wait for evidence.
@JimmyMc: Is that you Donald?
@Seamus Mc Meel: Is that you Maxine?
@Joey Navinski: whooosh…
@johnp: eh, Islamic terrorism is far_right terrorism silly.
God Bless the greatest country south of Canada and North of Mexico!
@Brad Carmichael: really, do Americans prefer to slaughter children in classrooms or is just some nut jobs
@Brad Carmichael: You really are an abominable person.Blocked,and reported.
$15,000.00 reward? Life is cheap there
No one calling for stricter parcel controls??
@Pat Cbar: purchase of explosives is already heavily restricted
Oh no our beloved Taoiseach is there.
In other news, it might rain on paddy’s day.
@Trevor Hayden: there’s now even talks of snow!
Arm everyone with parcel bombs. That should solve it
“No evidence of a terrorism link”
@Brendan Gordon: motive is needed to make that distinction
“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar joins Tesla founder Elon Musk, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and onetime presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as speakers at the event.”
How did a socialist manage to get sandwiched in between this group of neo-liberals?
ANTIFA left wing terrorists by the looks of it
@Dylan Toback: care to elaborate?
$15,000.00 reward? Life is cheap there
Ban parcels
have your say