Spain to miss 2012 deficit target: EU source

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission is to forecast that Spain will miss its deficit reduction target for 2012 despite budget cuts undertaken by the government, an EU source said Thursday.

Spain had pledged to cut its deficit to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year but the commission will indicate as part of EU-wide economic forecasts on Friday that Madrid will fail to reach that goal, the source said.

"Spain is not on track. It will not meet the objective for this year," said the source, who is close to the issue but refused to say by how much Madrid will miss the target.

The source rejected reports that Spain's deficit would reach 6.0 percent this year.

The Spanish government announced earlier this year that its 2011 deficit was much higher than previously forecast, at 8.5 percent instead of 6.0 percent.

Spain was originally supposed to bring the deficit down to 4.4 percent this year, but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy convinced EU partners to raise the target to 5.3 percent.