Spain announces Saturday that it will meet its 2012 public deficit target as dictated by European guidelines. But the government says the shortfall will jump by more than one percentage point if aid to its struggling banks is taken in to account.
Spain will meet the deficit goal of 6.3 percent this year not including payments to its banks, if those payments are included the deficit will hit 7.4 percent.
The budget was designed to get Spain out of the crisis and show that Spain is a reliable partner in the European Union.
SPANISH PRIME MINISTER, MARIANO RAJOY, SAYING:
"Yesterday the situation of Spain's financial institutions was announced in the biggest transparency exercise ever done. The IMF was here, the ECB, the Commission, private and independent auditors and now we know what is happening - we need money, yes, and they have lent it to us and we will pay it back. But, this is absolutely necessary for the financial institutions to recover, so that there is credit in Spain, so that investors can do what they know how to do, which is to invest and generate jobs."
Beset by anti-austerity protests, Spain is resisting pressure to apply for a full rescue, partly out of concern that European Union member Germany insists Spain doesn't need help.
