Spain to continue with reforms to consolidate economic recovery

The Spanish government has to continue with reforms in order to consolidate the country's economic recovery, the Secretary of State for Economy Fernando Jimenez Latorre said on Monday. Latorre described the reforms implemented by the government of Mariano Rajoy as "successful" especially in the financial sector, which helped change perceptions about the Spanish economy. He said the Spanish economy had started recovering thanks to the correction of economic imbalances and highlighted the improvement of indicators such as the production rate, the risk premium and the capital market. However, he warned that there is still a lot to do as Spain has high levels of deficit and debt. Also on Monday, chairman of the Spanish company Telefonica Cesar Alierta said that "the crisis was over" while presenting a report in the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela. The Bank of Spain has already stated that private consumption had grown by 0.1 percent in the third quarter, as the economy grew by 0.1 percent, but growth must be consolidated in order to create employment in the country where the unemployment rate is over 26 percent. Meanwhile, the risk premium remained at around 230 points on Monday as opposed to the 600 points it surpassed in the summer of 2012. Spain's 10-year bond interest rate stood at around 4.103 percent, well below the 7-percent level it had reached in 2012.