BR Research

World rattles as the eurozone quivers

Published November 16, 2011 Updated November 16, 2011 12:00am

As Europe struggles hard to float out of a very turbulent crisis, - going to the extent of appointments of echnocrats in key political positions in Greece and Italy - other countries in the world are shifting in their seats.
Noriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics, renowned for his prediction of the sub prime mortgage crisis - that earned him the name Dr Doom - has already spelled the endgame for a eurozone collapse.
Investors all around are spooked about the plausibility of the eurozone managing its way our of recovery, and the consequent effect on borrowing costs, particularly for the previously
isk-free sovereign debts, means the global banking sector would be running for their lives.
Recently published statistics by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reiterate the fears of a global recession as they highlight that the collective exposure of US banks to debts of troubled eurozone countries places American banks among the top three contenders bearing the risks of a possible breakdown.
At the same time, IMF chief Christine Lagarde warns that no country, particularly in Asia, is immune from the eurozone crisis.
Her comments are followed by a claim by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the potential threats of a slowing down of growth in the wake of a cutting back of export orders from the key trading zone.
In fact, the ADB went as far as to urge Asian giants India and China to help out the eurozone - talk about role reversal!
And Indian Minister of Trade, Anand Sharma agrees with ADBs stance. "Nobody wants the eurozone to remain unstable and turbulent," he said. "We have monumental challenges and we have to sustain a high level of growth. It is not an option, it is an imperative, because where do we find employment for tens of millions of our young men and women," the minister was quoted by the Financial Times earlier this week.
All in all, one cannot passively sympathise with the eurozone because the crisis will have far-reaching consequences on other economies - emerging or developed - as well.
Pakistans exports to the eurozone alone are around 24 percent of the net exports by the country, and a slowdown of their growth is not likely to be pleasant for the local economy either.
But though Pakistan might not be able to help out the troubled zone per se, it would be in the interests of policymakers, industrialists and exporters to chalk out a contingency plan to deal with a possible cut down in export orders from the eurozone.