IMF TO VISIT SPAIN ON ROUTINE INSPECTION

Madrid, January 17 (Reuters)- A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Spain on Monday to carry out a routine study of the country's financial system, as part of an annual global report, officials said on Sunday.

Concerns over Spanish banks' exposure to the collapsed property market remain acute and are major reasons behind market distrust of Spanish and other poorly performing countries on the fringes of the euro zone.

But the IMF said Spain's economic policies were not on the agenda for discussion.

"An IMF staff team is currently traveling to a number of countries as part of its preparatory work on the April 2011 Global Financial Stability Report - the IMF's regular report on global financial conditions," an IMF spokeswoman said. "Spain is among the countries the team is visiting”.

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