SPAIN-ECONOMY/BUDGET Spain on course to raise employment to pre-crisis levels - treasury minister

Record ID: 145108

  • Title: SPAIN-ECONOMY/BUDGET Spain on course to raise employment to pre-crisis levels - treasury minister
  • Date: 4th August 2015
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (FILE) (REUTERS) PEOPLE QUEUING OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE SIGN READING (Spanish): "EMPLOYMENT OFFICE" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUING JOB SEEKERS PASSING BY SIGN READING (Spanish): "EMPLOYMENT OFFICE" PEOPLE WALKING IN AND OUT OF EMPLOYMENT OFFICE DOORS
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SFUWCNMUN2V5AHUSFYUMJJUU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Spain's treasury minister Cristobal Montoro presented on Tuesday (August 4) the 2016 budget bill to the congress and highlighted the government's aim to recover employment levels.
    Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday (July 31) unveiled the budget, featuring the first spending hikes since he took office.
    The government plans to cut the public deficit by around 15 billion euros ($22 billion) next year.
    While still tight, the budget will be boosted by lower debt costs as well as higher tax revenues and reduced payouts for the unemployed resulting from an accelerating economic recovery.
    Spaniards suffered painful cost-cutting and tax hikes over the past several years, as the country implemented austerity measures imposed on them in exchange for European aid.
    Montoro said the austerity measures implemented by the conservative People's Party had boosted recovery.
    "What is leading the way out of the crisis is austerity politics. The politics of not increasing expenditure, that is what is leading the way out of the crisis. If we compare ourselves with other countries, brother countries, members of Europe we see how they don't really have a way out, they don't have a solution," he told a news conference in the congress.
    The budget was presented two months ahead of schedule so that it can be approved by congress ahead of the national vote due in November or December.
    The budget includes a 1 percent increase in civil servants' salaries, their first hike since 2009, and a 0.25 percent boost to public pensions.
    On Friday, Rajoy pledged to implement new tax cuts if he won a new four-year term and said the unprecedented efforts made by Spanish people during the crisis would be met by higher social spending if the economic rebound was not derailed.
    Spain's economy grew at its fastest rate since 2007 in the second quarter although Tuesday's figures showed that over 4 million people are out of work.
    Montoro was confident the People's Party government could recover the employment levels seen before the economic crisis.
    "The government's project is to completely recover the employment levels we had at the beginning of the economic crisis. 20 million jobs. At this point it seems plausible to achieve it. And even more, in a short time," he said.
    The budget announcement left the opposition Socialists unimpressed.
    Together with trade unions, they have accused Rajoy of using the budget proceedings to run a populist electoral campaign.
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