Soaring unemployment doesn’t make an ECB rate cut next week a lock

Government numbers released this morning show that Spain’s unemployment rate hit 27% in the first quarter of 2013. The 6.2 million unemployed is the highest on record. Spain’s economy contracted by 1.9% in 2012 and is projected to shrink by another 1.6% in 2013. The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expected to respond to the slowdown and the increase in unemployment by introducing another round of government budget cuts tomorrow