Spain will struggle to meet its 2012 deficit target as a contracting economy hinders the impact of the deepest budget cuts in the nation’s democratic history, Deputy Budget Minister Marta Fernandez Curras said. “It will be difficult, but who says it’s impossible?” Curras told reporters in Madrid yesterday evening after Budget Ministry data showed the central-government’s shortfall through November was 4.37 percent of gross domestic product. Curras said the social security system, combining Spain’s tax-funded pensions and unemployment insurance, is expected to register a gap of around 1 percent of output in 2012. The ... (full story)