Number of mortgages falls in Spain again in August

Spain saw another fall in the number of granted bank mortgages in August, by 52,482 compared to a year ago, according to figures published on Tuesday.

The data, released by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, showed a 6.6 percent decline compared to that of August 2008. The fall is considered an improvement against the July figures, which saw a 19.1 percent decline compared with July 2008.

Though these decreases indicate that Spain hasn't yet come out of the current economic crisis, they do give grounds for optimism.

Meanwhile, banking giant BBVA announced a 3.3 percent drop in profits for the first time over the past nine months in 2009.

Source: Xinhua