Spain
has announced plans to sell off stakes in the country’s airport authority and
national lottery as part of moves to improve public finances.
Companies
will be allowed to take a stake of up to 49 per cent in the Aena airport
authority, the government said.
The
state lottery will also see a 30 per cent stake sold off, and a special payment
for the long-term unemployed is to end.
Spain’s
budget deficit hit 11.1 per cent of GDP last year, and the government has
pledged to cut it to 6 per cent in 2011.
Aena
manages 47 Spanish airports, including Madrid Barajas Airport and Barcelona
Airport, the two largest.
It
also has a 10 per cent stake in London Luton Airport in the UK.
Spain’s
state lottery made a net profit of $3.9 billion in 2009, 3.5 per cent higher
than a year before, despite the country’s economic woes.
The
Spanish government also announced that it would cut taxes for small and
medium-sized companies.
A
European Union spokesman said Brussels welcomed the announcements.
He
added: “They confirm the government’s determination to continue with its
reform agenda.”
In
addition to cutting its public deficit, the Spanish government has to deal with
a 20 per cent unemployment rate – the highest in the European Union.
To
try to reduce this, it is liberalising labour laws to make its job market more
flexible.
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