Spanish banks bad loan ratio reaches 13% in October

Spain's non-performing loan rate increased to 12.998 percent in October, hitting a record high according to data released on Wednesday by the Bank of Spain. Loans that fell into arrears in the Spanish banking system reached 190.971 billion euros (262.767 billion U.S. dollars) in October, increasing by 3.141 billion euros since September when Spain's bad loan ratio had reached the highest level in more than 50 years. The Spanish bad loan ratio has been increasing for eight consecutive months since February and it is expected to continue to rise as according to experts it will not stop rising unless employment is created in Spain. Spain's economy grew by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of the year and it is expected to continue to grow in the following months consolidating this trend in 2014. However, economic growth is not expected to have an immediate impact on job creation. The Bank of Spain reported that total credit fell to 1.469 billion euros in October from the previous 1.481 billion euros of September, as banks were cutting lending due to the crisis. The ICO, a state-owned enterprise which aims at promoting economic activities to boost Spain's development, reported on Wednesday that it provided a total of 13.884 billion euros in 2013, especially to freelance workers and microbusinesses. The figure was 21 percent higher than a year ago. (1 euro=1.37 U.S. dollars)