Madrid (dpa) - Spain on Thursday sold 4.5 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) of government bonds at favourable interest rates, suggesting the country was not being affected by the crisis in fellow eurozone member Cyprus. Two-, five- and 10-year bonds all had lower yields than in previous auctions, with the amount sold exceeding the target of 4 billion euros. The debt sale was already the second successful one this week. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the crisis over the Cyprus bailout would not spread to the rest of the European Union. The situation on the island was "absolutely exceptional" due to the large breite of its banking sector and the amount of foreign deposits, the minister argued. Garcia-Margallo also rejected the idea of involving Russia in helping resolve the crisis. "The EU is a club which solves the problems of its members. Looking for a solution outside would be a very bad solution," he said. The Spanish banking association AEB, meanwhile, announced that banks operating in Spain had made a joint loss of 1.65 billion euros in 2012. Miguel Martin, president of the association, attributed the losses to the country‘s economic crisis and to government orders to set aside provisions to cover anticipated real estate losses. The eurozone has granted the Spanish banking sector loans worth more than 40 billion euros, after the meltdown of the country‘s property sector brought several banks to the brink of collapse. dpa sit npr Author: Sinikka Tarvainen

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