Christine Lagarde, IMF Chief

WASHINGTON: The IMF and Spain both denied yesterday any talks on a bailout loan program for Madrid, as Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria met the global lender’s chief Christine Lagarde.

“There is no such plan. We have not received any request to that effect and we are not doing any work in relation to any financial support,” Lagarde said after the two met.

And Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos called the “rumors” that Madrid was discussing a rescue loan program with the International Monetary Fund “senseless.”

“My desire is to not come out and deny these rumours because they are senseless,” he told a televised economic conference in the coastal town of Sitges.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the IMF’s European department had begun discussing contingency plans for an emergency loan to Spain as Madrid struggles to keep its banking sector afloat.

“Thoughts are already being discussed” on a rescue by the European department, a source “involved in the handling of the Spanish crisis” told the Journal.

But the IMF strongly denied any rescue was nigh.

“The IMF is not drawing up plans that involve financial assistance for Spain. Nor has Spain requested financial support from the IMF,” spokesman Gerry Rice told journalists.

The meeting between the Lagarde and Saenz de Santamaria was “to discuss recent economic developments in Spain and the eurozone,” he added.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 2nd June 2012