Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, adjust his glasses before a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Thursday, June 7, 2012. Spain's Prime Minister appeared Thursday to have abandoned his insistence that the country's troubled banking sector will not need an external bailout, as for the first time he avoided ruling out such an option.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, adjust his glasses before a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Thursday, June 7, 2012. Spain's Prime Minister appeared Thursday to have abandoned his insistence that the country's troubled banking sector will not need an external bailout, as for the first time he avoided ruling out such an option.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
A homeless person sleeps in the doorway of a bank in Madrid Thursday June 7, 2012. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pleaded with European leaders "to support those that are in difficulty" and push toward greater fiscal unity - a step that might allow its troubled banks to get direct financial help. The call comes although Spain insists it doesn't need outside aid. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, speaks during a press conference after a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Thursday, June 7, 2012. Spain's Prime Minister appeared Thursday to have abandoned his insistence that the country's troubled banking sector will not need an external bailout, as for the first time he avoided ruling out such an option.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
A woman uses an ATM cash point machine at a branch of the Bankia bank in Madrid, Wednesday, June 6, 2012. The Spanish economy is in recession for the second time in three years as the damage from a housing bust persists. Foreclosures are rising, Spain's banks are in worse financial shape and the government's deficit is hitting worrisome levels. The impact of the budget cuts has been brutal and unemployment has swelled to nearly 25 percent. Among people under age 25 it is a staggering 52 percent . (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
A demonstrator holds a banner reading in spanish "Bankia is a wild animal" during a demonstration next to a Bankia bank branch in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday June 2, 2012. Spain will stick to harsh austerity measures until it emerges from financial crisis, the prime minister said Saturday, promising that the country would survive the present economic turmoil. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
MADRID (AP) ? Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro will discuss a potential rescue for Spain on Saturday, a eurozone official said, as pressure grows on Madrid to sort out its troubled banks even if it means seeking a European bailout.
The latest report ? from the International Monetary Fund ? estimated that Spain needs at least a ?40 billion ($50 billion) capital injection following a stress test it performed on the country's financial sector. That report came out early Saturday, three days ahead of schedule, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Friday that the government would wait for the results of three reports, including the IMF one and two from independent auditors, before acting. But pressure is rising on the country, and the government appears to have resigned itself to the fact that it needs a bailout with money pumped in from Europe to prop up its struggling banks, and can't handle the job on its own.
A spokesman for Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers, said that the ministers would discuss the situation on a conference call Saturday afternoon.
Guy Schuller said that Spain had not yet asked for help, "but we want to prepare if the call comes."
Officials at Spain's Economy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
If it does request a bailout, Spain would become the fourth eurozone country to do so since the continent's debt crisis touched off two years ago. The three countries that have received rescues thus far ? Greece, Ireland and Portugal ? are fairly small, and many have worried that bailing out much-larger Spain could call the entire euro project into question.
Officials must walk a fine line between giving Spain enough money to make a rescue credible, if one is asked for, and not bankrupting the entire system.
On Friday, Saenz de Santamaria declined to say how much the sector, hit by the collapse of the country's real estate bubble, might need. Estimates of the cost of bailing out Spain's banks vary greatly, from ?40 billion ($49.87 billion) to as much as ?100 billon.
Spain has been criticized for being too slow to set out a roadmap to resolve its problem. European business leaders and analysts have stressed that Spain must find a solution quickly so that it is not caught up in any market turmoil sparked by the Greek elections on June 17. There are concerns that anti-bailout left-wing party Syriza could become the largest party in the Greek parliament, putting the country's membership of the 17-nation eurozone at risk.
"What we now crucially need is transparency and trust," said Andreas Schmitz, the head of Germany's banking association. "Any further uncertainty, any speculation how the situation could develop is poisonous for the markets."
But others said it's more important for Spain to correctly assess how to shore up its banking system than it is to hurry into a bailout ahead of the Greek elections. The audits that Spain's government is waiting for are crucial to determining precisely how much capital the nation's troubled banks need, said Mark Miller, an analyst with Capital Economics in London. The reports from independent auditors are due by June 21.
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