Spain on Tuesday became the latest European nation to take unilateral measures to deal with the world’s deepening financial crisis, announcing a €30-50bn emergency fund to provide liquidity to the financial system by buying Spanish bank assets.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister, told a hastily convened news conference that the temporary fund was designed to provide credit for borrowers starved of funds by the seizing up of interbank lending.