By Geoffrey Smith
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday unveiled a 200 billion euro ($222 billion) package of measures - worth nearly 20% of GDP - aimed at supporting the economy through its worst crisis in nearly a decade.
The measures, which follow the announcement of a 300 billion-euro package announced on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, include 100 billion euros of state credit guarantees for companies.
In addition, Sanchez said Spain will block any foreign attempts to take over Spanish companies whose value has fallen as a result of recent market volatility. Stock market regulators earlier Tuesday banned short sales of a selected list of stocks.
Spain has been in almost total lockdown since last week. According to data from Johns Hopkins, the country has more than 11,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and has registered nearly 500 deaths so far.
