MADRID: Spain's Socialist government Friday announced a nine-billion-euro (12.7-billion-dollar) fund to help the restructuring of the banking sector, hit by the global economic crisis. The Fund for Ordered Bank Restructuring was approved at a cabinet meeting on Friday, Finance Minister Elena Salgado told a news conference. She said the fund will be used to help certain banks in difficulty, in particular regional savings banks. Spanish banks emerged relatively unscathed from the subprime crisis last year. But some, especially smaller saving banks, were badly exposed to the collapse of the country's property market, which led to higher bad debt ratios and liquidity problems. Spain entered into its first recession for 15 years at the end of 2008 as the global credit crunch worsened a correction which was already underway in its once booming housing sector.