Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Travel News .




POLITICAL ECONOMY
Spanish deal fails to ease eurozone fears
by Staff Writers
Madrid (UPI) Jul 20, 2012


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

A deepening Spanish debt crisis has raised fears that Spain, not Greece, is most likely to sink the eurozone unless its financial wizards perform a miracle before September.

Eurozone finance ministers met to agree to lend Spain up to $122.9 billion to help shore up its banks but further problems await EU troubleshooters as heavily indebted Spanish regions emerge with pleas for further help.

Exactly how much will be needed to rescue the banks remains unclear. Findings from a major government audit of the troubled Spanish banking industry won't be known until September, when Spain's loan requirements for this purpose alone will become somewhat clearer.

Meanwhile, however, the regions are lining up for rescue, causing dismay in the markets.

The eastern region of Valencia said Friday it would apply to Madrid for financial help, but the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is already under pressure from other troubled regions while credit rating agencies pile on more downgrades.

Spanish bond rates Friday indicated investors saw the bonds as little more than junk raising the possibility the country was poised to join the inglorious lineup of debt-ridden eurozone members that already include Greece, Italy and Portugal.

Analysts said the Spanish crisis raised the prospect of the eurozone succumbing to the multiple pressures of cash requests from Spain that Europe's major economies can no longer fulfill.

Meanwhile, EU economists are revising downward growth prospects for Europe overall. Spain said its earlier estimates of gross domestic product rising by 0.4 percent were optimistic and a further shrinkage was in the cards.

Spain is in the throes of angry protests over Rajoy's austerity cuts that are likely to increase as growth prospects get dimmer.

That also raised fears that a new $20 billion fund designed to ease hardship in Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions might not prove enough. The fund is part-financed with a loan from the state-owned lottery company.

Most of Spain's problems stem from reckless bank lending to fund a property boom that went wrong. Critics have blamed local governments for corruption and frivolous spending.

Government moves to discipline regions that overspend are flawed, critics say, because the central government cannot realistically take over and manage the finances of regions that it sees as flouting financial discipline. The expertise for putting in place such a supervisory financial network is simply not there, critics say.

European stock indexes tumbled Friday despite the eurozone finance deal for Spain.

.


Related Links
The Economy






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








POLITICAL ECONOMY
Fitch downgrades three major Japanese banks
Tokyo (AFP) July 20, 2012
Fitch said Friday it cut the credit rating of three of Japan's biggest banks over concerns about Tokyo's ability to support the financial sector, after the nation's sovereign debt rating was also cut. The ratings agency lowered its rating by one notch to 'A-' from 'A' - the seventh highest on a 22-rating scale - for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Mizuho Financial Group (MHFG), and ... read more


POLITICAL ECONOMY
S. Korea plans fresh rocket launch in October

NASA Selects Launch Services Contract for Jason-3 Mission

NASA Selects Launch Services Contract for Three Missions

NASA Selects ULA's Workhorse Delta II Rocket for Three Future Missions

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Opportunity Runs the First Martian Marathon

NASA Conducts Mission Simulations In Hawaii

Opportunity Continues to Explore Rocks on the Rim of Endeavour Crater

Orbiter Enters, Then Exits, Standby Safe Mode

POLITICAL ECONOMY
ESA to catch laser beam from Moon mission

Researchers Estimate Ice Content of Crater at Moon's South Pole

Researchers find evidence of ice content at the moon's south pole

Nanoparticles found in moon glass bubbles explain weird lunar soil behaviour

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto

Hubble telescope spots fifth moon near Pluto

New Horizons Doing Science in Its Sleep

It's a Sim: Out in Deep Space, New Horizons Practices the 2015 Pluto Encounter

POLITICAL ECONOMY
UCF Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor

Can Astronomers Detect Exoplanet Oceans

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Dust

Study in Nature sheds new light on planet formation

POLITICAL ECONOMY
NASA Selects Space Launch System Advanced Booster Proposals

J-2X Engine With Nozzle Extension Goes the Distance

Cella Energy Signs Fuel Source Deal with Kennedy Space Center

HI-C Sounding Rocket Mission Has Finest Mirrors Ever Made

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Looking Forward to Shenzhou 10

Astronauts in good shape after return

Shenzhou mission sparks 'science fever'

China Beats Russia on Space Launches

POLITICAL ECONOMY
Planetary Resources Announces Agreement with Virgin Galactic for Payload Services

Explained: Near-miss asteroids

The B612 Foundation Announces The First Privately Funded Deep Space Mission

Ex-NASA astronauts aim to launch asteroid tracker




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement