Spanish Business News

BRUSSELS(Dow Jones)--The European Union has no plans to provide rescue loans to Italy and Spain, despite the rising borrowing costs facing these countries, a European Commission spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Italian and Spanish authorities are taking the necessary steps to improve their budget situations, spokeswoman Chantal Hughes said.

"We are absolutely confident that the Spanish authorities will take all steps which are necessary," Hughes said. "The question of a rescue plan is not on the table."

"The situation is very similar for Italy," she added.

There is also no indication that either of those countries won't participate in paying the next tranche of bilateral loans to Greece, Hughes said. Greece is due to receive EUR5.8 billion from the euro zone and EUR2.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund in mid-September.

Rescue loans for Cyprus aren't on the table either, Hughes said, after an explosion near the country's largest power station left the country short of power. Adding to the country's problems is the large amount of Greek sovereign debt bought by Cypriot banks, leaving them vulnerable to a sovereign restructuring agreed by euro-zone leaders last month.

Source: Wall Street Journal