The EC receives stability plans and reforms from Spain and will give its opinion this month

The European Commission (EC) confirmed this Friday the reception of the Stability Plan and the National Reform Program of Spain for 2020, which includes the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis, and recalled that in May it will present its specific recommendations for each Member State .

"I can confirm that the Commission has received the Stability Program and the National Reform Program of Spain for 2020," community sources told Efe.

In any case, they noted that "we have no comments at this time" and recalled that the Commission plans to adopt its specific recommendations on economic policy for each country of the European Union (EU) in May.

According to plans sent to Brussels on Thursday, the Spanish government expects that the collapse of the Spanish economy due to the COVID-19 crisis will reach 9.2% in 2020 and that the unemployment rate will rise to 19%, according to the new macroeconomic table included in the update of the stability program 2020-2023 that was detailed today at a press conference by the economic vice president, Nadia Calviño.

The economic contraction will be a consequence of the collapse of household consumption (8.8%) and the collapse of investment (25.5%) and exports (27.1%).

According to Calviño, the Spanish economy will bottom out in the second quarter of the year and will recover since then in the form of an "asymmetric V", which will lead to a rebound in the economy of 6.8% in 2021.

In addition, the Spanish Government forecasts that the increase in public spending and the fall in income associated with the coronavirus crisis will boost the public deficit in 2020 to 115,671 million euros, equivalent to 10.34% of GDP.

It will be the largest deficit registered since the end of 2012 (10.7% of GDP), as highlighted by the Spanish Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero.

Expenses will also rise 10.5% to 576,714 million euros, while revenue will fall 5.3% to 461,043 million.