Brussels rebukes Spain for high levels of unemployment and public and private debt

The European Commission has warned Spain on Tuesday about the high levels of both public and private debt and high unemployment , especially among the young and less qualified population, despite the fact that the unemployment rate has been reduced "rapidly" during the last years.

This is stated in the report published by the Community Executive with data from 2018 in which it identifies the macroeconomic imbalances of all the members of the block. Of the eleven indicators that the community authorities evaluate, Spain suspends in four .

Specifically, the average unemployment rate during the last three years is 17.4% in Spain, more than seven points above the threshold, set at 10%. "Unemployment has fallen rapidly, but it is very high and is above the levels before the crisis, especially among young people and less qualified people," the document said.

With respect to the public debt, which is far from the threshold of 60% of GDP, the text highlights that "solid" economic growth has been the main cause of its reduction in recent years, but warns that fiscal deficits " persistent "imply that" the still high public debt ratio is slowly decreasing. "

Private sector debt , meanwhile, stands at 133.5% of GDP, above the reference of 133%. Although reduced throughout 2018, the report notes that the deleveraging process must still continue.

In particular, it points out that the pace of corporate debt decline has slowed due to the slight growth of new loans, while that of households has continued its decline despite the fact that they signed more loans.

Finally, Spain suspends the net international investment position (NIIP) indicator, which reflects the difference between Spanish investments outside the country and foreign investments in Spain. "The negative NIIP has continued to improve, but remains very high," warns the document.

In addition to Spain, the European Commission has identified economic imbalances in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria, as well as in Italy, Cyprus and Greece, countries where such imbalances are "excessive."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• European Comission
• Unemployment

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