The debt-ridden Spanish region of Catalonia has asked for a bailout of 5bn euros ($6.3bn; £4bn) from the central government.
This summer, a 18bn-euro public fund was set up by Madrid to aid its 17 autonomous regions, which are in deep debt.
Catalonia represents one-fifth of the Spanish economy.
It comes as official figures showed that Spain’s economy contracted further in the second quarter.
The economy shrunk by 0.4% between April and June after a 0.3% drop in the previous three months, the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica said.
The nation’s struggling economy has now declined for three straight quarters. On an annual basis, Spain’s economy contracted by 1.3% in the second quarter.
Speculation has persisted that the country will have to request a full financial rescue.
In June, Spain requested 100bn euros ($122bn; £79bn) of loans from the eurozone’s bailout fund to help support its banks, which are struggling with bad debts from loans made in the property sector.
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Dean Popplewell
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