Spain: central bank policies offsetting crisis

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Spain may be in the economic doldrums, but tight control policies by its central bank are shielding financial institutions here from the turmoil that erupted on Wall Street and is spreading to other countries, the finance minister said Tuesday. "People can rest assured that their savings are at no risk in any Spanish financial institution," Pedro Solbes said. "We're convinced the Spanish system is not in any danger." Speaking separately, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the Spanish financial system's strength is due to government decisions and the central bank policies of recent years. "We have a system that is fairly solid," Fernandez de la Vega told Cadena SER radio. "What's certain is the rigorous policies of the central bank and complementary decisions made by the government in the 1980s have served us very well and given us a financial system which many European governments now look up to."