EU to propose Italy, Spain get lion's share of recovery fund - official

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commision will propose on Wednesday that Italy and Spain -- the countries most affected by the coronavirus epidemic -- get the lion's share of a new recovery fund offering a mix of grants and loans, a senior EU official said.

Out of a total of 750 billion euros (670.4 billion pounds) that the Commission is to borrow for the recovery fund, Italy is to get 173 billion, of which 82 billion would be grants and 91 billion would be loans.

Spain could be getting a total of 140 billion of which 77 billion would be grants and 63 billion loans.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)