ECB, IMF in talks over EUR 300 billion Spanish rescue plan: paper | Reuters

ECB, IMF in talks over EUR 300 billion Spanish rescue plan: paper
| Reuters

The European Central Bank is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund on a Spanish rescue package worth potentially 300 billion euros ($387 billion), Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday, without naming its sources.
The package would pave the way for the ECB to buy Spanish bonds to lower Madrid's borrowing costs under the bank's bond-buying plan announced last week. The ECB, however, wants to ensure the participation of the IMF to make sure Spain faces strict conditions to cut spending and reform its economy, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
"The ECB is working on a framework for the new program to buy state bonds, and this involves strict IMF monitoring," a person was quoted as saying by the paper.

The ECB and IMF have denied that the story has any basis.
Spanish banks' ECB borrowing hits new high
| Reuters

Spanish banks borrowed a record 412 billion euros ($531.77 billion) from the European Central Bank in August, increasingly obliged to lean on the bank for funds as concerns over the country's debt problems blocked their access to capital markets.
August's borrowing levels compared with 402 billion euros in July and just 82 billion euros a year earlier, according to data published by the Bank of Spain on Friday.