Spanish economy minister expects 8 pct deficit in 2011

The new Spanish Economy Minister, Luis de Guindos, said on Monday that he expected Spain to end the year with a public deficit of around 8 percent. Despite previous expectation of 6 percent deficit, De Guindos, confirmed this was not the case. "It is possible it could be over eight percent, but I hope that it won't be that much," he said in an interview on local radio station, Cadena Ser. "It is not just the fault of one government, but Spain cannot afford the luxury of eight percent without the government taking measures. It is not popular to increase taxes, but others have obliged us to do so," he continued, adding that the government would release the exact figures in a week. He implied that there would be more austerity measures for Spain to adopt in the near future. "The economic reforms will allow us to get out of the crisis. We have a very aggressive reform agenda to carry out in the coming weeks and months," said the minister. The new Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy proposed last Friday a sweeping package of cost cutting measures and tax increases in a fresh drive to bring the country's public finances back to order. The measures included freeze of the country's current monthly minimum wage of 641.4 euros (838.2 U.S. dollars) along with recruitment of civil servants during 2012 with no replacements for anyone leaving their positions, in addition to rises in the income tax.