Spain cuts growth forecasts for this year and next

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's acting Economy Minister Luis de Guindos on Saturday cut the country's economic growth forecast for this year and next, blaming a global economic slowdown, a ministry spokeswoman said. De Guindos, who was in Washington for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, cut the forecast growth in national output for 2016 to 2.7 percent from 3 percent and the 2017 forecast to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent, she said. Earlier this week the IMF reduced its growth forecast for Spain for the first time since 2013, to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent. It also cut its global growth forecast for 2016 for the fourth time in the past 12 months. While Spain has shaken off a deep recession to post one of the highest growth rates in the euro zone, the future course of economic policy is uncertain due to the continued lack of a government following an inconclusive election last December. (Reporting By Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Gareth Jones)