Nouriel Roubini: Greece should default and abandon euro zone

Greece should begin an orderly restructure/default on its public debt, exit the euro zone and return to the drachma to restore solvency, competitiveness and growth, economic anlyst Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed Dr. Doom, said in an article published by the Financial Times. “The recent debt exchange deal Europe offered Greece was a rip-off, providing much less debt relief than the country needed”, said Nouriel Roubini in the Financial Times article. Even if leaving the euro area would be hard, a return to the national currency "will restore competitiveness and growth, as was the case for Argentina and other emerging markets that have cut monetary anchors", according to the economic analyst. Earlier this year, Nouriel Roubini said during a conference held in Bucharest that Romania will not join the euro zone in 2015 and should wait a year or two to ensure a healthy financial and economic situation, so that it doesn’t follow Greece’s footsteps. According to him, if joining the euro zone will occur in 2015, the pressure on politicians to adopt further reforms and austerity measures will be accelerated, adding that there are European countries that have not joined the euro area and still did well, just as there are examples of countries that joined the euro zone and had problems. “It is better to have things taken in small, but sure steps”, said Nouriel Roubini. Read the original text here. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com