Capital flees Spain as budget gap jumps | Reuters

Capital flees Spain as budget gap jumps
| Reuters

 Capital flight from Spain gathered pace in May with the rescue of one of the country’s biggest banks, and crumbling consumer demand saw retail sales chalk up two straight years of declines in June.
Outflows rose to 41.3 billion euros ($50.6 billion), Bank of Spain data showed on Tuesday, as the government stepped in to prop up Bankia.
That dealt a further blow to already fragile investor confidence and triggered a European rescue worth up to 100 billion euros for the country’s lenders.
In all 163 billion euros – equivalent to around 16 percent of economic output – left Spain between January and May, with domestic banks sending money abroad, foreign banks pulling out cash and mostly non-resident investors dumping domestic assets.