Eurogroup finance ministers agree to lend Spain 30BN euro to aid banks

The finance ministers of the 17-member Eurogroup have agreed to a 30 billion euro bailout loan to Spain to assist the country’s troubled banks, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said on July 10 2012.

Juncker said that a memorandum of understanding on the loan would be signed in the second half of July 2012 and the money should be available by the end of this month. Payment is dependent on approval by the parliaments of the Eurogroup states.

Eurogroup finance ministers also agreed, at a lengthy special meeting that started on July 9 and lasted into the night, to extend to 2014 the requirement that Spain should reduce its budget deficit to the European Union limit of less than three per cent of GDP.

The 30 billion euro is envisaged as the first instalment of a 100 billion euro bailout agreed to in June.

(Photo: Council of the European Union)

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