MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government plans to revise its forecast for economic contraction this year to between 10% and 11% from a previous 9.2% announced in May, newswire Europa Press reported Sunday, citing sources from the government.
The government will update its GDP forecast for this year in early October and is likely to update its budget deficit target too to a wider deficit than the 10.3% of GDP target announced in May, the news wire said.
A spokesman for the Economy Ministry declined to comment.
The Spanish economy contracted a record 17.8% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter and 21.5% compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Spanish authorities had imposed one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to curb the pandemic from mid-March to late June, triggering one of the deepest recessions in the region. Early indicators in August showed the recovery initiated in July slowed down during the summer.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Toby Chopra)
