Spain asks governments to cut budget

Spain's central government asked the regional governments to cut their budget by over 8 billion euros (about 11.0 billion U.S dollars) in 2014 and 2015, according to the 2014 Budget Plan sent on Thursday to the European Commission. According to the document, the regional governments in 2014 should increase their revenue by 2.14 billion euros and reduce spending by 1.93 billion euros. They will have to increase taxes and reduce staff and pharmaceuticals spending to increase their revenue. In 2015, the regional governments must cut over 4.5 billion euros, collecting 2.37 billion euros and cutting 2.19 billion euros. Meanwhile, the government expects public debt to reach 101.13 percent of the country's GDP in 2015 before falling slightly to 101.09 percent in 2016. Thursday saw the Bank of Spain report that the debt had reached 944.68 billion euros by August, 92.3 percent of GDP. (1 euro = 1.37 U.S. dollars)