Spain has requested to borrow up to Euro 100 billion from the IMF to shore up the Spanish Banking system, badly hit by property lending in a market where values have collapsed.

The Spanish authorities have stressed that the loan will not be a "rescue" as such but financial assistance to ensure that Spain has a stable financial system, that will underpin their eventual economic recovery.

Spain has approached the IMF with regards to the possibility of borrowing this amount in the very near future, which has been rubber stamped in principle but the exact amount will not be known until the Spanish Government receives the results of reviews of it's Banking system and will then formally request the loan.

The amount required will not tax the resources available to the EU, will give Spain funding at viable rates and will deal with a huge problem within the EU, that could get much worse, if any of the Spanish banks collapsed.