Catalonia and Spain miss 2013 deficit targets

Madrid (ACN).- Catalonia finished October with a deficit of €3.065 million, 1.6% of the GDP, according to figures published today by the Spanish Government. It was therefore unable to reach the deficit target imposed by Madrid for 2013, which was set slightly lower, at 1.58%. The Spanish Government also failed to reach their own targets, and had a deficit of 3.96% in November, higher than the 3.8% required for the whole year. The Spanish state deficit amounted to €40.606 million.

In a statement, the Spanish Ministry of Finance explained that the 3.96% deficit was caused by the higher payment of debt interests and by the transfers to the Social Security System. The ministry, led by Cristóbal Montoro, said that the primary deficit, which deducts the interest payments, amounted to €14.601 million, 1.5% lower than during the same period last year.

Besides Catalonia, other autonomous communities have also missed their deficit targets: Navarra, which had a 2.12% deficit, Murcia (2.05%), Aragon (1.38%) and Valencia (1.35%). The regions with the lowest deficit between January and November were La Rioja (0%), Asturias (0.16%), Balearic Islands (0.3%), Canary Islands (0.44%) and Extremadura (0.5%).

All in all, the autonomous communities had a €11.486 million deficit: €3.065 million from Catalonia, €2.047 million from Madrid and €1.400 million from Andalucía. When considering the deficit of the autonomous communities, the Spanish state and the Social Security, it amounted to 4.87% of the GDP. The payments of the banking bail-out will also be included in this figure at the end of the year. Brussels had set a global limit of 6.5% for Spain in 2013.