Spanish budget: what the economists say As much as I can gauge from the market's positioning, it seems like nobody really wants to go short Spain before the activation of the OMT. There seems to be a big consensus base in the market that Spain will have to go for a support program and hence nobody wants to go short into that because they think it's going to happen rather soon, or sooner rather than later... It's a bit difficult to read into any impact from the budget just because of this huge positioning in the market. We see a scenario with a deeper recession and if this were the case, further spending cuts will be needed. Soledad Pellon, IG Markets Brokerage They have given us a lot of numbers, but it all falls apart when they say that the economy will contract (in 2013) by just 0.5pc, which is one of the most optimistic outlooks if you look at the forecasts of international institutions such as the IMF. In spite of that, it will be well received initially because the budget is clearly focused on cutting spending rather than on trying to boost revenue. Santiago Sanchez, economist, Carlos III University Our assumption is for a 1.6pc recession for 2013. If the government's outlook for income and spending is higher than analysts' consensus, the budget has a limited capacity to convince investors of the consolidation of public accounts from the very moment of the announcement. David Schnautz, rate strategist, Commerzbank He [the economy minister] basically said this is more than is actually required which is probably what the market likes to hear as we view this as preparatory to laying the ground to avoid too many extra requests in case Spain asks for help. It's not like this is a breakthrough announcement, far from it... It's a step in the right direction but the market still seems to be focused on Rajoy's statement on Wednesday that he will ask for aid if he sees yields being too high for too long. This is laying the ground for when the trigger will be pulled at some stage, but it's nothing like they can avoid the trigger.