Portugal and PIGS: Main Lessons of Economic Recovery

... to 100 billion euro during 18 months. On December 11, 2012, the European Stability Mechanism, set up on November 29, 2012 to succeed the EFSF and EFSM, gave Spain, its first client , the initial tranche of 39.5 billion euro. In contrast to Ireland, Greece and Portugal, where the funds went to the government, in Spain funds flowed to the Fondo de Reestructuracion Ordenada Bancaria (FROB), a special bank-restructuring fund authorized to execute the rehabilitation of credit institutions via the extension of ...