Foreign debt falls

The IMF’s latest economic forecast predicts that economic measures in Spain will cut foreign debt to 110 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2025. Meanwhile, France’s foreign debt is set to rise to 115 per cent of its

GDP during the same period.

During 2023, the IMF expects that Spain’s foreign debt will fluctuate around 112.1 per cent, slightly above France’s which will hit 112 per cent this year. By 2024, Spain’s foreign debt is set to fall to just above 110 per cent while France’s will climb to 114 per cent of GDP.

The news is encouraging for Spanish economic ministers who are on track to bring foreign debt down more than 10 percentage points from around 120 per cent of GDP, during the pandemic.

The IMF has also asserted its prediction that Spain will lead economic growth in the Eurozone in coming years.

Betty Henderson

ALGERIA has knocked the USA off the top spot as the biggest natural gas supplier to Spain in data from the start of 2023. Figures released on Friday, February 10 showed that most of the liquified natural gas received in Spain came from the North African nation.

Providing 8,545 gigawatt hours (GWh) of natural gas to Spain, Algeria was the country’s biggest partner, leaving the USA in second place. The USA provided a total of 7,102 GWh to Spain in second place before Nigeria who provided 6,932 GWh.

The figures paint a picture of a shifting energy market in Spain. Although Algeria became the biggest supplier of natural gas, the country actu­