Ratings agency warns of Spanish time bomb
The chief of credit ratings agency Standards & Poor's in Germany said on Sunday that Spain's social situation was potentially explosive.
The high jobless rate in Spain, Italy and France was volatile for the societies in those countries, said the top man for Standards & Poor's in Germany, Torsten Hinrichs.
Hinrichs told German newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung that he was generally positive about economic developments in the Eurozone in the second half of 2012.
He said, however, there needed to be social consensus for the austerity measures currently being imposed in countries such as Spain.
Hinrichs said he believed high unemployment and a falling social status among the population wasn't helping matters at all.
The credit agency country boss also said that while people in Spain and Portugal had shown they could tolerate the current austerity measures, this situation "cannot continue forever".
Unemployment in Spain is currently running at 26.2 percent. In Italy, this is 11 percent and in France the jobless rate is running at 10.8 percent.
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The high jobless rate in Spain, Italy and France was volatile for the societies in those countries, said the top man for Standards & Poor's in Germany, Torsten Hinrichs.
Hinrichs told German newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung that he was generally positive about economic developments in the Eurozone in the second half of 2012.
He said, however, there needed to be social consensus for the austerity measures currently being imposed in countries such as Spain.
Hinrichs said he believed high unemployment and a falling social status among the population wasn't helping matters at all.
The credit agency country boss also said that while people in Spain and Portugal had shown they could tolerate the current austerity measures, this situation "cannot continue forever".
Unemployment in Spain is currently running at 26.2 percent. In Italy, this is 11 percent and in France the jobless rate is running at 10.8 percent.
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