Economic Crisis in Europe
Posted by Stephen Cline on February 8th, 2010There are signs that the unemployment rate in the US may be going down. It seems to be dipped from a high of 10% in December to around 9.7% in January. But there also seems to be another report that around 20,000 jobs were shed in Jan, 2010. Markets have also been faced with the prospects of economic crisis in Europe to add to all this, which had led some turbulent trading session over the last week or so. There are some people who are hoping for economic recovery, at long last. But the signs emerging from Europe are anything but encouraging. This is quite true in markets in Greece, Spain and Portugal which seem to have a looming economic crisis.
A case in point is Greece. The country has had almost 8% government deficit since the 1980s and this stands at a whopping 13% currently. The government debt stands at a huge and almost unmanageable 120% of national income. Markets have lost confidence as it almost seems certain that Greece as a country will default on its dues and may need a bailout. What is more worrisome that the problem seems to be replicating in Spain, Portugal and also Ireland. The fact remains that even though Europe has the Euro, it still functions as so many different countries and not as one coherent, single zone.
Tags: economic crisis, Europe