EU state aid to banks is one third of GDP

The EU's main regulator has approved state aid to banks worth almost a third of the 27-member bloc's GDP - twice as much as predicted earlier, with the highest rescue funds in Ireland and with none paid out in several states of central and eastern Europe.

According to a review published by the European Commission on Monday (10 August), between last October and mid-July 2009, the EU's executive approved guarantee measures designed to boost lenders' confidence worth €2.9 trillion and capi...