Redheaded Rambles

The Spanish economy continued to shrink for the fifth quarter in a row, contracting 0.4 percent compared to the previous three months. The country’s budget minister presented an optimistic outlook in his address to Parliament in the face of increasing pressure on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government to seek further financial aid from Europe.

Socialist opposition who have protested the austerity measures put in place by the right wing government called the minister’s speech a ‘big lie.’ “It was a very deceitful budget because the macroeconomic picture is being manipulated. It’s not true. Nobody believes it,” PSOE spokesperson Soraya Rodriguez said.