Spain Softens Austerity for Regions Anticipating EU Leeway
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Spain is preparing to ease austerity for its most cash-strapped regions in anticipation that European Union peers will grant the government more time to reorder public finances in the second year of a recession.
“All options have to be studied given how much the range of regional deficits has widened,” Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro told reporters in Madrid following a three-hour meeting with regional budget chiefs last night. A task force has been created to study how individual debt and deficit goals could be set for the 17 semi-autonomous regions, Montoro said.