Eurogrupo ofrece rescate de bancos españoles

Genevieve Signoret & Patrick Signoret

Tras una audioconferencia de urgencia el fin de semana, el Eurogrupo anunció un paquete de hasta $125 MMn (100 MMn de euros) para recapitalizar la banca española.

El movimiento se percibió como un “rescate light”. Es un rescate porque el gobierno español, que no podría obtener los fondos en el mercado de bonos a un precio razonable, recibirá el dinero a través del Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (FROB).

Es “light” porque probablemente no conllevará condiciones adicionales (como aquellos impuestos a Irlanda, Portugal y Grecia); el Eurogrupo consideró que las reformas y medidas fiscales y laborales son suficientes y confía que España honrará sus compromisos de déficit actuales. El rescate vendrá ya sea del fondo de rescate europeo temporal Fondo Europeo de Estabilidad Financiera (FEEF) o de su sucesor permanente, el Mecanismo Europeo de Estabilidad (MEDE), pero no del Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).

Fue una de los escasos momentos en que los líderes europeos excedieron las expectativas en vez de apenas cumplirlas o de decepcionar.

Se esperan más detalles en los próximos días, y la cantidad exacta después de que dos auditores independientes publiquen sus informes sobre la banca española el 21 de junio.

New York Times:

Responding to increasingly urgent calls from across Europe and the United States, Spain on Saturday agreed to accept a bailout for its cash-starved banks as European finance ministers offered an aid package of up to $125 billion.

European leaders hope the promise of such a large package, made in an emergency conference call with Spain, will quell rising financial turmoil ahead of elections in Greece that they fear could further shake world markets.

The decision made Spain the fourth and largest European country to agree to accept emergency assistance as part of the continuing debt crisis. The aid offered by countries that use the euro was nearly three times the $46 billion in extra capital the International Monetary Fund said was the minimum that the wobbly Spanish banking sector needed to guard against a deepening of the country’s economic crisis.

The announcement of a deal came amid growing fears that instability in Spain could drag down an already sputtering world economy. The decision was the culmination of weeks of a contentious back-and-forth between Spain and its would-be creditors in which it was hard to tell how much of Spain’s resistance to financial help was tactical maneuvering for a better deal and how much a refusal to admit the depth of the banking sector’s troubles.

Rajoy defends ‘victory’ for EU credibility (FT):

Spain’s EU partners accept that its existing austerity programmes are rigorous enough, and that the credit line will be directed at banks such as Bankia, the merger of seven regional savings banks that was nationalised by the government last month and said it had a capital shortfall of €19bn.

Economists and analysts say the EU loan nevertheless amounts to a rescue for Spain because the money will go to the state Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring and was necessary only because Spain itself could not access the sovereign bond markets at a reasonable price.

Bailout lite: How rescue differs from Greece (FT):

Una diferencia es que no habría fondos por parte del FMI, sino del FEEF o MEDE.

This could emerge as a bone of contention. If the funds come from the EFSF, the loans are treated like any other, meaning eurozone countries do not get any special priority in the repayment queue. ESM loans, on the other hand, are senior to almost everyone else, and some governments – including the Dutch and Finns – are pushing for the programme to be done under the ESM.

While an ESM programme might make government lenders feel extra safe, it could spook private lenders, who are unlikely to appreciate €100bn in new debt jumping the queue. The last thing some officials want to do is upset private investors, who are still needed to lend money to the Spanish government. As a result, some are pushing for the programme to begin under the EFSF so that both funds participate, easing the seniority problem.

Comunicado del Eurogrupo. Comunicado en español (traducido por El País):

El Eurogrupo toma nota de que España ya ha puesto en práctica importantes reformas fiscales y del mercado de trabajo y medidas para fortalecer la base de capital de los bancos españoles. El Eurogrupo confía en que España respetará sus compromisos con arreglo al procedimiento de déficit excesivo y en relación con las reformas estructurales con el objetivo de corregir los desequilibrios macroeconómicos en el contexto del semestre europeo.

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