Spain needs a "considerable" fiscal adjustment: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Spain needed a "considerable" fiscal adjustment in order to reduce its deficit, Spain's economics newspaper Expansion reported on Thursday.

The IMF highlighted that Spain had to carry out a gradual adjustment in order to reduce the deficit, which stood in 2015 at 5.0 percent, far from the 4.2 percent agreed on with the European Union (EU).

Moreover, Spain would not meet the 2016 and 2017 deficit targets agreed with Brussels, which stand at 2.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively, the organization said. The IMF predicted higher figures -- 3.4 percent for 2016 and 2.5 percent for 2017.

The international body recently revised down its economic forecast for Spain from a 2.7-percent growth to a 2.6-percent growth for this year, while forecasting a 2.3-percent GDP growth for 2017.

The IMF also pointed out the problems of high public debt in the country, which, according to it, will stand at 99 percent of GDP in 2016 and fall to 98.5 percent in 2017.

Meanwhile, the international body warned that any kind of uncertainty in the country was not good, referring to the current political uncertainty as Spanish parties have been unable to form a government since the December elections led to a hung parliament. Endit