The Spanish government is negotiating with the European Union (EU) to make the 2013 deficit target more flexible, sources said on Monday.

According to sources in the Spanish Ministry of Economy, the government will try to convince the EU to allow a deficit target of 6 percent of the Spain's GDP for 2013 rather than the current 4.5 percent.

The margin would also be extended to the deficit target of Spain's regional governments which would theoretically be allowed to have a deficit above the current agreement of 0.7 percent, something which would be a of great help to many of Spain's regional authorities who have already asked Madrid for more slack to meet the deficit.

The Spanish government will include these new figures in a report to be submitted to the EU this April, in which the government will also include conservative modifications to its predictions for the Spanish economy.

This will presumably bring government predictions more in line with other predictions for the economy. The Bank of Spain last week reported the Spanish GDP woould fall by 1.5 percent in 2013 and grow by 0.6 percent in 2014, with unemployment expected to reach 27.1 percent this year and falling to 26.8 percent in 2014.

With the country's economy still contracting and unemployment rising, Spain is expected to face serious difficulties in reducing its deficit, which ended 2012 at 6.98 percent of GDP instead of the required 6.3 percent.

The Institute of International Finance last week predicted a steeper contraction of 2 percent for the Spanish economy in 2013, while warning that 2013 and 2014 deficit targets would not be reached by the Spanish government.