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The Spanish government said Wednesday it will decide within the next few weeks whether to ask for outside financial help, noting it might opt for a precautionary line of credit instead of bailout cash.

Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is not known as a gambling man. But as Europe’s debt crisis stretches on, he is playing a tense game of chicken with the financial markets, betting that Spain can balance its books with homegrown austerity while putting off — maybe forever — a humiliating bailout from the European Union.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards and Portuguese rallied in the streets of their countries' capitals Saturday to protest enduring deep economic pain from austerity cuts.

Spain's debt level and borrowing needs are set to rise next year, piling pressure on the government to apply for international aid, as it pours funds in to cash-strapped regions and an ailing banking system, its budget showed on Saturday.

Spanish jobless claims rose at the slowest pace in six years in August, the country's labor ministry said, a sign that surging unemployment in the euro zone's fourth-largest economy is leveling off.

The Spanish economy is falling deeper into recession and depositors are pulling their money out of the banks, figures published on Tuesday showed, while the country's most economically important region, Catalonia, said it needed a major rescue from Madrid.

Corporate storm clouds gathered over Spain again as two major European companies joined the ranks of those saying they were taking steps to reduce exposure to the recession-hit country.

At the start of another critical week for the euro, the head of the finance ministers that use the currency, Jean-Claude Juncker, reinforced expectations Monday of an initiative to lower Spain’s borrowing costs, which had hit alarming heights.

The euro will survive even if Spain were cut off from capital markets, European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny said, adding the currency was in solid shape despite financial problems in some member countries.

Spain's banks would need 51-62 billion euros ($64-78 billion) in extra capital to weather a serious downturn in the economy, less than a 100-billion-euro aid package offered by the euro zone, independent audits showed on Thursday.