SPAIN’S president announced yesterday that the country will see a rise in taxes to mop up deficits in public funding.

But José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has assured that these increases will be ‘limited and temporary’.

He has not yet revealed which commodities or contributions will be affected.

Zapatero stressed in a press conference yesterday morning that “the worst of the economic recession and the destruction of employment has passed,” but that “this does not mean the recovery is going to be immediate.”

The president stated that Spain is about to go through ‘difficult months’ before it begins to grow again and new jobs are created.

He has also pointed out that there will be more tax reductions, and that it was his socialist government rather than the previous that has applied reductions to make life easier for employers and employees.

These reductions having included a decrease in social security payments made by employers, and also income tax (IRPF).

Zapatero said he will not reduce benefits such as the 2,500-euro ‘baby cheque’, since “this relates to social, not fiscal, policy.”

He has also stated that his cabinet will work with unions and other parliamentary groups to change the application of the 420-euro-a-month crisis benefit for those whose dole money has run out.