ECB Constancio: ECB Could Support Spain By October

–Madrid Must Meet All Conditions First

AMSTERDAM (MNI) – The European Central Bank will be ready to
consider supporting Spain in the secondary bond market by October if all
the conditions have been met by then, ECB Vice-President Vitor
Constancio said Friday.

Constancio stressed that the ECB will not conduct any primary bond
market interventions. “If Spain has to issue new debt to repay the old
one, it has nothing to do with our program; we only intervene in the
secondary market,” Constancio told reporters.

Spain is due to issue fresh debt in October and there is some
speculation that the country may seek additional aid from the Eurogroup
by next month.

Asked whether the ECB will be ready to support Spain by that time,
Constancio said: “If all the other steps are fulfilled, we will judge.
Because another thing that we said and wrote is that we retain the right
to take the decision if we then activate the program; it is not
automatic.”

–Frankfurt newsroom +49 69 72 01 42; e-mail: jtreeck@mni-new.com

[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]