Spain could decide within days or weeks to ask for a bailout for its troubled banking sector, a step that would make it the fourth country in the 17-member Euro Zone to seek help since the EU debt crisis broke out.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said the Government would not act until it receives a raft of reports on how much money Spain needs to save its banks from collapsing under the weight of soured real estate investments.

“Once the estimates of the numbers are known with regard to what the financial sector might need, the Government will state its position,” she said.

“But in any case, I am telling you that no decision has been made either way,” she added.

Ms Saenz de Santamaria declined to say how much the sector, hit by the collapse of the country’s real estate bubble, might need. Estimates of the cost of bailing out Spain’s banks vary greatly, from €40 billion ($49.87 billion) to as much as €100 billon.

An International Monetary Fund report was released late Friday, and two independent auditor surveys were due by June 21. She said no decision on a bailout had been made at Friday’s Cabinet meeting.

The International Monetary Fund said it estimated that Spanish banks need at least €40 billion ($49.87 billion) capital injection following a stress test it performed on the country’s financial sector.

Commenting on reports that the 17-member Euro Zone finance ministers will hold a conference call on Saturday on Spain, Ms Saenz de Santamaria said that “no meeting is planned” but would not confirm or deny whether some kind of communication would take place.

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