Silencio, crisis bancaria.

Leo en el Daily Telegraph que el sector bancario español está en crisis y que está siendo salvado a la chita callando por el Banco Central Europeo. Lo que cuenta da bastante miedo. Según dice, los bancos españoles aumentaron las emisiones de "titulizaciones" (no creo que esta palabra exista en español) de deuda en un 55% en 2006, que la deuda de nuestras empresas es el 112% del PIB. Lo dicho, la crisis está aquí. El Daily Telegraph no es patriota español, debe ser el Nelson de nuestra época.

Es llamativo el silencio de esto en la prensa española.

Reliance on the ECB window appears to have kept the mortgage sector afloat despite the sharp slowdown in the Spanish property market and the de facto closure of the capital markets for this type of business, allowing Spain to avoid the sort of mishap suffered by Northern Rock in Britain and Countrywide in the US.

The data appear to confirm suspicions that the EU authorities have carried out a covert rescue of the Spanish mortgage banking system.

It may equal the taxpayer rescue of Northern Rock in Britain, and possibly exceed it in proportion to the overall size of Spain's economy.

The key difference is that the ECB rescue operation in Spain has been disguised. A veiled method is necessary since the eurozone lacks a clear-cut lender of last resort. The IMF has warned that this gap in the architecture of of the single currency could prove serious in a crisis.

Traders say the Spanish authorities are quietly turning a blind eye to use of the ECB window, and in some cases may be encouraging banks to go to Frankfurt - a claim denied by the Bank of Spain.

Moody's said the total issuance of securities by Spanish banks last year reached €143bn, up 55pc on the 2006. Over €62bn were mortgage securities. The agency said the default rate was likely to rise, with mounting concerns among participants over a possible "housing crash". Some of the mortgage securities have already begun to draw on their reserve funds.

David Owen, Europe of Dresdner Kleinwort, said Spain could face serious difficulties this year as the excesses of a decade-long boom finally catch up with the country.

"The size of the Spanish corporate sectors financial deficit is truly is really scary. It rose to 14.5pc of GDP in the third quarter of 2007 from 10pc in the first quarter. This must be a record for a relatively large economy. Clearly this is not sustainable. Cost imbalances have a nasty habit of unwinding, quickly and very painfully," he said.

Mr Owen said Spain was acutely vulnerable since it cannot cut interest rates or let the currency slide to cushion the downturn. "Several years of no growth could now beckon. It will be very difficult for the economy to pick itself up again inside EMU," he said.

Spanish corporate debt is now 112pc of GDP. The current account deficit is 10pc of GDP. These are both flashing red warning signs.

Among those issuing mortgage securities in the last two months are BBVA (€4.9bn), Caja Madrid (€2.4bn), Caja Catalunya (€1.6bn), CAM (€1.4bn), and Caja Castilla la Mancha (€800m).