Moody's has warned that Spain's regions will not meet deficit-cutting targets despite asset sales and new government measures to boost home sales. Most of the powerful regions missed deficit targets for the first half of 2011, latest figures showed last week.
The overall budget deficit for the 17 semi-autonomous regions amounted to 1.2 per cent of gross domestic product in six months - already nearly at the full-year target of 1.3 per cent.
"Such poor results at the year's halfway mark reflect the regional governments' inability to rein in spending aggressively enough to address their structural deficits," Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Monday.
"The document underlines our view that this year regional governments will not reach the deficit target they agreed to with the central government," it said.
