Nearly half of Spain's regions 'straying away from' debt-reduction strategies
Nearly half of Spain's regions 'straying away from' debt-reduction strategies
SEVEN of Spain's 17 autonomous regions are not sticking to their plans to mop up their federal government deficits, say the tax authorities.
Andalucía, the Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura are the culprits.
Catalunya has the best record so far after reducing its expenses by 1.5 billion euros, out of a total of 7.24 billion across all 17 regions.
But this total figure for Spain is less than half that envisaged when each federal government put forward its money-saving plans for the rest of 2012 through to the end of 2014, back in May.
Income for each of the regions has risen, giving a total of 1.56 billion euros as at the close of 2012.
In terms of percentage, the regions which have most reduced their expenses are the Basque Country, at 83 per cent, followed by Aragón's 73 per cent and Asturias at 71 per cent.
All autonomous regions had been given a target of getting their debts down to 1.5 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product, collectively, by the end of 2012.
Despite the fact that some regions are straying away from their outlined strategies for cutting their debt, the ministry of tax affairs believes that the 17 regions all together are on the right track towards meeting their goal.
