Page "Economy of Spain" Paragraph 27

At the beginning of 2010, Spain's public debt as a percentage of GDP was still less than those of Britain, France or Germany.

However, commentators pointed out that Spain's recovery was fragile, that the public debt was growing quickly, that troubled regional banks may need large bailouts, growth prospects were poor and therefore limiting revenue and that the central government has limited control over the spending of the regional governments.

Under the structure of shared governmental responsibilities that has evolved since 1975, much responsibility for spending had been given back to the regions.

The central government found itself in the difficult position of trying to gain support for unpopular spending cuts from the recalcitrant regional governments.