Spain says regions to meet 2010 deficit target

 

Spain's regional authorities will meet their deficit target of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, the economy minister Elena Salgado said on Wednesday.

The budgets of the autonomous communities - as Spain's 17 self-governed regions are called - are a key element in the central government's efforts to slash its public deficit from 11.1 percent of GDP in 2009 to 9.3 percent this year.

The regions' combined debt has nearly doubled to 104.8 billion euros ($140 billion) over the past three years, after a plunge in tax revenues since Spain's property bubble burst, and is considered the greatest risk to Madrid meeting promised austerity measures.