Spain pays higher interest rates

Spain sold 10- and 15-year debt bonds worth €2.621 billion yesterday, but the interest rate it had to offer rose slightly amid tension over the eurozone debt crisis.

The Spanish treasury had to offer a rate or yield of 5.896 per cent to borrow money for 10 years from a rate of 5.395 per cent when it made the last such issue on June 16. It had to offer 6.191 per cent to borrow for 15 years from 6.027 per cent on May 19.

Existing Spanish bonds have fallen sharply recently, pushing up the yield on these bonds to levels generally considered to be unsustainable in the long-term, a signal that Spain is being sucked into the eurozone debt crisis.