Spain called for outside support for the first time to battle the financial crisis as Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said European institutions should help shore up the nation's lenders.

Spanish banks don't need "excessive" amounts to recapitalize, and the question is "where that figure comes from," Montoro said in an interview with Spanish broadcaster Onda Cero today, as he ruled out a full rescue for the euro region's fourth-biggest economy.

"That's why it's so important that the European institutions open up and help us achieve, help facilitate, that figure because we're not talking about astronomical figures," he said. "What we need is for the European institutions to get going and seek that bank recapitalization through those procedures that mean more Europe."