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Spanish gov't raises taxes to reduce public deficit

Xinhua, December 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Spanish government has raised taxes in order to reduce public deficit and meet the European Union (EU) deficit target, the government announced on Friday.

The government expected to collect 7.5 billion euros (7.9 billion U.S. dollars) in taxes so that the deficit falls to the 3.1 percent requested by the EU in 2017 from the 2016 target of 4.6 percent.

The country's Finance Minister, Cristobal Montoro, explained that most of the money, 4.3 billion euros, would be from an increase in company taxes, while the rest would be related to anti-tax fraud measures and taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks.

He said the rise was necessary in order to meet the 2017 deficit target, saying that "we have to make a big effort to reduce the deficit".

The government also set the spending limit at 118.337 billion euros for 2017, which meant a 5 billion euro fall when compared with 2016, and revised up its economic forecast for this year and 2017 from the former 2.9 percent to 3.2 percent and from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent respectively. (1 euro=1.06 U.S. dollars) Endit