Castilla-La Mancha to slash budget to address blowout

The Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha on Wednesday unveiled drastic budget cuts but without affecting basic social services and raising taxes in order the meet the deficit reduction target set by the central government.

Regional premier María Dolores de Cospedal told a news conference on Wednesday that her administration plans to save 1.815 billion euros between this year and the next, the bulk of which will come from slimming down the public sector.

Madrid has set a public deficit for the regions as a whole of 1.3 percent of GDP for this year. Cospedal of the Popular Party, which took over from the Socialists in the region after winning elections in May, said Castilla-La Mancha's deficit as of the end of June stood at 4.9 percent of GDP, with debt of 7.455 billion euros.

The premier blamed the blowout in the region's finances on the outgoing Socialists.

"We, as the government of Castilla-La Mancha, have the obligation, and we will fulfill that obligation, to rebalance the ruinous finances that we found."

She said she also plans to draw up a timetable to pay some 2.6 billion euros owed to suppliers by the region.