'Spain Doesn't Need EU Aid to Shore Up Banking System'

 

Spain is taking "very decisive action" to clean up it savings banks and has the domestic resources to shore up any banks that need help, EU Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

"Spain is not comparable to, for instance, Ireland, which had a banking sector many times larger compared to gross domestic product," Rehn said in a Bloomberg Television interview in London today. "Spain has the starting point that it can deal with this challenge on its own without resorting to European assistance."

Rehn declined to say whether he will recommend on May 30 that the Spanish government be given extra time to meet deficit- reduction targets due to its recession-hit economy.

Budgets announced yesterday by regional authorities, now subject to more federal control, "seem to be in line with the required fiscal targets," Rehn said.