Rajoy says Spain won't make 2012 growth target

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday Spain was not going to meet its existing growth target for 2012, but wouldn't go into detail about what that may mean for its plans to cut its budget deficit sharply.

"We're going to present a new macroeconomic framework, but the current one says that we'll have GDP growth of 2.3 percent this year, these are the last macroeconomic projections in Spain, but it is evident that it won't end up like this," Rajoy told reporters after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Spain is aiming to cut its budget deficit from around 8 percent of GDP to 4.4 percent by the end of 2012, but that target looks ambitious given the sharp contraction in growth, with output falling 0.3 percent int he fourth quarter of 2011.

(Writing by Luke Baker, reporting by Ben Deighton)