MADRID: Spain’s public deficit was 4.54 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said on Thursday, beating its European Union target for the first time since the global financial crisis.
Spanish public debt began climbing steadily after a property market crash in 2008 that sent tax income tumbling and put millions of people out of work.
Since then, the government has struggled to reduce one of Europe’s highest public deficits through unpopular tax hikes and spending cuts, measures which cost the government its parliamentary majority in an election last year.
Excluding financial aid, the Spanish public deficit was 4.33 percent, Montoro said. Both Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Budget Minister Montoro had widely flagged in recent days that they were expecting to meet the target.
The 2016 figure compared to an EU-set goal of 4.6 percent and a deficit of 5.1 percent in 2015. The EU has raised the target several times in recent years when it became apparent Spain was going to overshoot.
The government plans to publish its delayed 2017-budget proposal on Friday which will aim to reduce the budget shortfall target to 3.1 percent of GDP, a figure the government has said is achievable.
