Roubini warns of Spanish Debt Trap

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Roubini warns of Spanish Debt Trap

Speaking at a conference, New York University (NYU) Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini has offered his economic forecasts for Spain, stating that growth will not surpass 1 per cent during the next three or four years, Spanish daily El Economista reports.

Roubini added that growth will not be enough to reduce the excessive unemployment rate. Although he acknowledged that exports have improved, Roubini explained that Spaniards will find themselves in a debt trap as salaries fall in an internal devaluation necessary to improve competitiveness and as home prices fall, making households more indebted in turn hurting domestic demand.

Roubini, nicknamed Doctor Doom for his gloomy predictions, added that Spanish debt dynamics over the medium-term do not appear sustainable.

However, Spain, unlike Italy, no longer faces the risk of losing market access, Roubini pointed out. - See more at: http://www.ifamagazine.com/news/doctor-doom-warns-of-spanish-debt-trap-284312#sthash.MOAN5nG9.dpuf

Nouriel Roubini, (born March 29, 1958, Istanbul, Turkey), Turkish-born American economist and educator who was best known for predicting the 2007–08 subprime mortgage crisis in the United States and the subsequent global financial crisis.

Born to Iranian Jewish parents, Roubini moved with his family to Iran and Israel before they settled in Italy in 1962. After a year at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he studied economics at Bocconi University in Milan (B.A., 1982) and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1988), where he specialized in macroeconomics and international economics. He joined the economics faculty at Yale University in 1988 and taught there until 1995, when he moved to New York University. He also served as a visiting scholar to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), held single-year terms on the White House Council of Economic Advisers (1998–99) and at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (1999–2000), and cofounded (2004) the consulting firm Roubini Global Economics. Roubini spent much of his early career studying countries that experienced extreme economic failures, such as Mexico (in 1994), Thailand and other countries associated with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Russia (1998), and Argentina (2000). He determined that each shared one common element: a massive current account deficit.(www.britannica.com)

Nouriel Roubini is the Chairman and CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, LLC, his own global macroeconomic consultancy firm. He is also a professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Dr. Roubini has extensive policy experience as well as broad academic credentials. From 1998 to 2000, he served as the senior economist for international affairs on the White House Council of Economic Advisors and then the senior advisor to the undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, helping to resolve the Asian and global financial crises, among other issues. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and numerous other prominent public and private institutions have drawn upon his consulting expertise.

NOURIEL ROUBINI BLOG

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Roubini warns of Spanish Debt Trap

NOURIEL ROUBINI BLOG