Spain's bad loan rate up to nearly 9.5 percent
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The Bank of Spain says the country's bad loan rate shot up to a record of 9.42 percent in June, with more than €164 billion ($201.38 billion) in loans to households and businesses at least three months behind in their payments.
Spain announced in June that its banking sector, hit hard by a collapsed real estate bubble, needed a bailout. Up to €100 billion in money has been made available by the other members of the 17-country group that uses the euro, but has yet to be disbursed.
The increase from May was more than €8 billion, the second biggest monthly increase on record.
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Spain is in its second recession in three years and the jobless rate is almost 25 percent. Many think it will end up requesting a full-blown sovereign bailout because of the government's soaring borrowing costs.