Banks Bad Debts Rise in Spain

Late payment of the loans granted by banks, funds and cooperatives operating in Spain to businesses and individuals reached 4% in February, a level not reached for over twelve years, specifically since November 1996.

According to data released today by the Bank of Spain, the rate of default in February is more than triple the 1.04% recorded a year earlier, although its growth rate from month to month has slowed slightly as the increase over the January being 3.80% lower than in January compared with December, when it stood at 3.29%.

This ratio represents a balance of bad loans of 73,935 million euros between banks, cash and credit, compared with 68,180 million which accounted for the previous month, which implies a rebound of 8.4%.