SPAIN has announced deep spending cuts to curb the country’s debt crisis.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero confirmed that 13,000 civil service jobs will be slashed in 2010 as part of the austerity plans.
Public sector salaries will also be reduced by five per cent as Spain tries to avoid succumbing to an economic disaster akin to Greece.
US President Barack Obama even called Zapatero before the measures were unveiled, urging him to take “resolute action”.
He explained that Spain wanted “to contribute, with our financial stability, to the stability of the eurozone”.
Zapatero revealed that his own salary and those of senior cabinet ministers would be cut by 15 per cent.
He explained that Spain wanted “to contribute, with our financial stability, to the stability of the eurozone”.
Spain’s budget deficit currently stands at 11 per cent of GDP, but the Spanish PM hopes this will be trimmed to six per cent by 2011.
The plan is estimated to save some 15 billion euros over the next two years.
Other measures include a six billion-euro cut in public sector investment and a 600 million-euro reduction in foreign aid.
The cabinet will vote on the proposed measures later this week.
The measures came after the European Union – anxious about fragile economies such as Spain, Portugal and Greece – approved a 750bn-euro rescue package.
Spain has now emerged from the recession after it recorded 0.1 per cent growth for this year’s first quarter.
Jon, constanrly erasing posts is childish. You should listen to your loyal readers.
I was just asking where the article about ‘9 out of 10 expats saying that Spain was better’ had disappeared to?
fred,
sorry, no idea… been out and about working…
you need to ask andy in the office.
hes on andrew@theolivepress.es
Andy, stop erasing my posts! And what happened to that article about 9 out of 10 expats saying Spain was the best move they made, since I want to comment on that?
Sorry, Fred, I’ve been away … Missed your entertaining posts. But, what have you been saying to upset the editor, so that he erases them? Do, tell …
Seriously, though, if the OP is censoring readers’ posts, that’s a serious matter which will undermine their credibility.
I too would be interested to read the 9 out of 10 expats article, as I would probably be one of the nine. Where’s it gone and why?
Pablo, hombre.
There was an OP article about how 9 out of 10 expats had made the right decision about moving to Spain, and it was based on some report that some bank or other financial institution wrote. One of the points in the article was that professional people earn more money here in Spain, and I didn’t think that was accurate at all.
Also, the article came out on the same day as The Cobblers new austerity measures, so the whole thing was a bit tainted. I think this is why it was pulled? The report was written by a bank, I recall, so all a bit biased. As soon as I wrote all this and published the article, it was later removed, and then the whole post was removed.
Two of my comments have now been removed and I think there should be an Olive Press investigation to see who is removing such a loyal readers and commentators’ (i.e. me) postings.
P.S. When I posted a note to Jon that the picture of his Volcano was not the one in Iceland, they removed that post as well…
I mean, you want to see the actual volcano, and not the one in St Ives don’t you lol.