IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned last week that Spain shouldn’t pour its energies exclusively into cutting expenditure but should also focus on economic restructuring. This must have been galling for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has, even his harshest critics would grudgingly acknowledge, maintained a commitment not only to reducing the deficit but to introducing accompanying reforms designed to generate growth and boost employment. The figures show that the deficit isn’t going down and employment isn’t going up, so while Mr Rajoy’s commitment may not be in question, his delivery certainly is. He, of course, argues that these things take time – something with … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Reform and recovery