WASHINGTON (AP) ― The International Monetary Fund says it has not been asked by Spain for a bailout and has not begun preparing one.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice spoke Thursday as Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria flew into Washington for talks with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The officials were discussing how Spain can finance an overhaul of its banking sector.

Saenz de Santamaria said that it was coincidental that she was coming to Washington in the midst of the banking crisis because her meetings were scheduled months ago.

The government nationalized a major bank earlier this month. It now says it will need to inject $23.6 billion in public money into the bank ― more than twice what the government had estimated.

Doubts over how recession-hit Spain will handle the bailout have sparked concerns that the country will soon follow Greece, Portugal and Ireland in asking for financial assistance.

Lagarde called her meeting with Saenz de Santamaria productive.