Spain's public deficit stands at 5.16 pct of GDP in 2015

Spain's public deficit stood at 5.16 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2015, 55.755 billion euros (63.479 billion U.S. dollars), the Spanish government said on Thursday.

The figure is higher than the deficit target requested by the European Union that stands at 4.2 percent for 2015. In 2016, the Spanish government has agreed to reduce its public deficit to 2.8 percent.

The deficit of Spanish regions stood at 1.66 percent of GDP compared to the 0.7 percent requested and the deficit of the social security stood at 1.26 percent compared to the requested 0.6 percent.

On the other hand, the deficit of the state stood at 2.76 percent of GDP, compared to the requested 2.9 percent and local governments registered a 0.44 percent surplus.

Spain's acting Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro emphasized that the country's deficit had fallen from 5.79 percent of GDP in 2014 to 5.16 percent of GDP last year, but warned that it was not "enough" as the target goal was 4.2 percent of GDP in 2015.

Meanwhile, Spain's acting Minister of Economy and Competitiveness Luis de Guindos recognized that the government will have to negotiate with the EU on a new deficit target for 2016. Endit