Spanish bank debt to ECB falls by 31.3%

The total debt of Spanish banks to the European Central Bank (ECB) dropped by 31.3 percent in October when compared with the same month of 2012, data from the Bank of Spain showed on Thursday. The Bank of Spain reported that Spanish banks owed a total of 234.812 billion euros (315.498 billion U.S. dollars) to the ECB in the tenth month of 2013, as compared to 341.601 billion euros in same period last year. On a monthly basis, the debt to the ECB decreased by 2.6 percent from 241.089 billion euros in August to 234.812 billion euros in October. The debt has been falling for 14 consecutive months after it peaked in August 2012 at 388.736 billion euros, two months after Spain asked for a bailout to the European Union (EU) in order to recapitalize its banking system. The so-called Troika will visit Spain on December 2 in order to carry out the final evaluation of the Spanish banking sector. (1 euro=1.34 U.S. dollars)