MADRID, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Spanish banks' non-performing loans as a percentage of a total credit stood at 9.39 percent in July, according to provisional data published on Monday by the Bank of Spain.
It was one of the lowest figures since June 2012 when bad loan ratio stood at 9.42 percent and Spain asked for a bailout in order to recapitalize its banks.
Bad debts within the Spanish banking system stood at 120.827 billion euros (134.921 billion U.S. dollars) in July, while total credit portfolio stood at 1.286 trillion euros falling by 11.030 billion euros since July 2015.
Spanish banks' non-performing loan rate has stood below 10 percent for five consecutive months in a row, falling by 4.21 percent since its highest level in December 2013 when it peaked at 13.62 percent.
Spanish banks' bad loan ratio decreased in December 2012 and February 2013 as a result of transfers of toxic assets made by some Spanish banks to the Spanish "bad bank", called SAREB.
These transfers reduced a big proportion of toxic assets, mainly from the real estate sector, within those entities needing a bailout from the European Union such as Novagalicia Banco, Catalunya Caixa, Bankia, CEISS or Caja3. (1 euro=1.116 U.S. dollar)
