Spain:
On October 10, Spanish government announced that it will raise bank deposit guarantees to 100,000 euros, and set up a 30 billion euro fund to buy assets from banks and keep credit flowing to the economy. The bail out fund could be expanded to 50 billion euros. Spain was the first European nation to copy the US strategy. The government also passed laws to guarantee bank debt issued up to the end of next year, with maturities up to a maximum of five years.
France:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his government would provide up to $491 billion to help banks stay afloat through the financial crisis - $436 billion to guarantee bank refinancing and another $54 billion for a government-backed agency to provide banks with extra capital. In early October, France’s national statistics agency declared that the nation had entered a recession, with economic contraction expected in the third and fourth quarters of 2008.
Germany:
Germany has approved a $675 billion rescue package, including $540 billion in loan guarantees for banks. The entire rescue package will amount to about 20 percent of German GDP. On Oct. 5, Germany agreed a $68 billion package to bail out Hypo Real Estate, the country’s second-biggest commercial property lender, after a rescue plan by private lenders fell apart. In early October the German government followed the example of Ireland by pledging to guarantee all private bank deposits. The Europe's biggest economy lowered its GDP growth estimate for 2009 by a full percentage point to 0.2 percent.
Netherland:
On Oct.7, the Dutch government increased its bank deposit guarantee from 38,000 euros to 100,000 euros. On Oct.9 it provided 20 billion euros to boost the flow of money and restore confidence in banks. On October 20 the government injected $13.4 billion into ING Groep NV. Just weeks earlier, the banking and insurance giant had been viewed as a possible white knight for another troubled European financial group, Fortis NV which was later bought by the Dutch government. On Oct.25, the government injected $3.7 billion into another insurance company, Aegon.
Switzerland:
Following the lead of other European countries and the United States, Switzerland announced on Oct. 15 that it would inject billions of dollars into its banking system, chiefly into its largest bank UBS AG. The bank will receive up to $54 billion to remove bad debt from its balance sheet.
Hungary:
On Nov.6 the International Monetary Fund awarded Hungary a 24-month stand-by loan of 12.3 billion euros ($15.7 billion) to rescue the country’s struggling financial system. The Hungary deal includes immediate access to around 4.9 billion euros in funding. The rest of the loan is to be disbursed in five installments subject to quarterly reviews. Hungary is already receiving cash injections from other quarters - 6.5 billion euros from the European Union and one billion euros from the World Bank.
Russia:
Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, has approved two anti-crisis packages worth a total of $86 billion. The packages made available $50 billion of state money to banks and companies who need to refinance foreign debt, and $36 billion to Russia's main banks. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that bank deposit guarantees would be raised to 700,000 roubles ($26,760), equivalent to over 3 years wages in Russia. With the price of crude sliding, oil-rich Russia’s stock markets have been extremely volatile, and trading has been suspended several times.
