MADRID, July 11 (Reuters) - Spain's government debt could easily balloon to the equivalent of 90 percent of national income by 2011 if its public finances are not overhauled, Europa Press reported an economy ministry official as saying.
Luis Espadas, budget and spending secretary at the ministry, added that the outlook for Spain's public debt this year was 'brutally negative' and estimates that it would increase by nearly 20 percent 'could be short of the mark', news agency Europa Press reported late on Friday.
The government had previously said that public debt would jump 15 percentage points of GDP to reach 60 percent of national output by the end of 2010 as the public sector steps into the breach left by property developers and other businesses left without customers and struggling under massive debt loads.
Up until now the government has argued that it has greater margin for public spending in the economic crisis because its public debt as a proportion of GDP sits around 15 percentage points lower than European counterparts.
(Reporting by Ben Harding, editing by Anthony Barker) Keywords: SPAIN ECONOMY/DEFICIT (ben.harding@reuters.com; +34 91 585 8530; Reuters Messaging: ben.harding.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Luis Espadas, budget and spending secretary at the ministry, added that the outlook for Spain's public debt this year was 'brutally negative' and estimates that it would increase by nearly 20 percent 'could be short of the mark', news agency Europa Press reported late on Friday.
The government had previously said that public debt would jump 15 percentage points of GDP to reach 60 percent of national output by the end of 2010 as the public sector steps into the breach left by property developers and other businesses left without customers and struggling under massive debt loads.
Up until now the government has argued that it has greater margin for public spending in the economic crisis because its public debt as a proportion of GDP sits around 15 percentage points lower than European counterparts.
(Reporting by Ben Harding, editing by Anthony Barker) Keywords: SPAIN ECONOMY/DEFICIT (ben.harding@reuters.com; +34 91 585 8530; Reuters Messaging: ben.harding.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.