'Spain should stay focused on reform'

Paris, April 25 (IANS/EFE) Spain must maintain its "push for reform" despite the short-term impact that effort entails, Fernando Casado, executive director of the Spanish Business Council for Competitiveness, or CEC, and economist Jose Manuel Campa said in the French capital Wednesday.

A public administration overhaul that prioritizes productive public investment, additional labor-market adjustments and steps to bolster Spain's knowledge economy are the three main policy objectives the Spanish government should pursue.

"Speaking of cuts is very ambiguous. It's necessary to talk about reforms that reconcile (the dual aims of) growth and budget deficit reduction, a balance that's not easy to achieve but must be sought," Casado told EFE at the presentation in Paris of the report "Spain: A Land of Opportunities".

The recent decline in Spain's risk premium - the extra return investors demand to hold the country's benchmark 10-year bond compared with equivalent German debt - and interest rates on Spanish debt are the result of the reforms carried out and "a very good sign", but still "clearly insufficient", Campa said.

The CEC is forecasting a 1.4 percent decline in Spain's gross domestic product this year, although it expects the country will grow 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter and 0.8 percent in 2014.

--IANS/EFE

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