Spanish Prime Minister says Spain Does Not Need European Help

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Friday that Spain did not need to tap for now the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program for troubled euro zone governments but did not rule out asking for aid in the future.

Rajoy has faced pressure from Spain’s international partners — including the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — to seek a European Union bailout. He has resisted so far, helped by an easing of the euro zone debt crisis.

“We are not thinking of asking the European Central Bank to intervene and buy bonds in the secondary market,” he said at a news conference in Madrid. “But we can’t rule it out in the future.”

Rajoy has been able to delay a rescue because the ECB’s pledge to intervene in the market and support Spanish bond prices has brought down Spain’s borrowing costs since the summer.

He praised the ECB’s move on Friday.

“I think it has been a very significant decision. It has had a calming effect on the markets,” he said.

via Reuters

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza