Spain Pledges Deepest Budget Cuts in More Than 30 Years
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Spain, under threat of falling victim to the region’s debt crisis, will raise taxes and slash spending to achieve 27 billion euros ($36 billion) in deficit cuts as it tries to trim its budget gap by a third.
The government will cut ministries’ spending by 17 percent, increase corporate levies and raise 2.5 billion euros through a one-time amnesty on tax evasion, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said in Madrid. The 2012 spending plan seeks to reduce the budget gap to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product from 8.5 percent in 2011, the largest reduction in at least three decades.