Spain to make another EU bank bailout payment

(MADRID) - Spain plans to pay back 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in bailout loans it received in 2012 from the European Union to bolster its ailing banks, the economy ministry said Wednesday.

Madrid will transfer the funds to the EU rescue fund in July -- ahead of schedule -- an economy ministry spokeswoman said.

Spain has already reimbursed two tranches of the 41.4 billion euros in bailout funds it received for its banking sector, despite having decade to do so.

Madrid made a first repayment of 1.3 billion euros in July 2014, followed by a second installation of 1.5 billion euros in March 2015.

Spanish banks were battered when the country's decade-long housing bubble burst in 2008, spurring the state to nationalise some lenders and seek EU aid.

Spain's eurozone partners agreed in June 2012 to provide up to 100 billion euros to rescue its crippled banking system.

The Spanish economy, the eurozone's fourth-largest, returned to growth in 2014 with expansion of 1.4 percent after five years of recession.

The government expects the economy will expand by around three percent this year, faster than any other large eurozone country.