Catalonia to slash budget by 10%

Catalonia, one of Spain’s richest regions, said in January 2011 that it needed to cut its budget by about €4bn, or 10%, in 2011 because of a cash shortage exacerbated by Spain’s austerity programme and Madrid’s objections to further regional debt-raising.

Catalonia’s plight, said to have left it with just two months more of normal spending, has revived a sometimes bitter dispute in Spain about devolution and the powers of the 17 autonomous regions.