Spending consolidation together with some extraordinary measures ensured deficit well below 3%The budget deficit in 2016 decreased to 2.1%, 2.3 percentage points lower than in 2015, according to INE. This figure beats all predictions, including our own, and is actually lower than the initial target proposed by the Government, at 2.2%. As previously mentioned by us and other entities, this was partly the result of an extra curb in spending (namely in public investment and the purchase of goods and services) to compensate for revenues below what was expected.