WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s on Monday left Spain’s credit rating unchanged despite the country’s missing its deficit goal and requiring new targets to be set.

“The easier targets do not affect the country’s “A3” government bond rating with negative outlook because Moody’s had already incorporated a likely deviation from original fiscal targets and a slower pace of fiscal consolidation into its analysis,” the ratings agency said.

The ratings confirmation came after Brussels allowed Madrid to relax its annual public deficit target to 5.3 percent of GDP in 2012 and 3.0 percent in 2013.

That came after the country missed its own goal of 6.0 percent last year, running up a shortfall that hit 8.5 percent of GDP.

“While the revised fiscal target for 2012 is more realistic than the previous one, Moody’s believes that the Spanish government will still need to implement a substantial fiscal adjustment this year,” the agency said.

It pointed especially to Spain’s regional authorities needing to implement their own “profound structural reforms” to ensure the entire country can reach its targets for fiscal adjustment.

“These reforms are also essential if Spain is to have any chance of reducing the budget deficit further to three percent of GDP in 2013.”

On Friday, Bank of Spain figures showed that the country’s public debt soared to a record high at the end of 2011, equal to 68.5 percent of annual economic output and breaching the 60 percent target agreed with the European Union.