NEW DELHI, Oct 17: Greece and Spain are in “depression, not recession”, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Wednesday, blaming tough austerity measures for their downward economic spiral.

Stiglitz also said that the IMF was “a little too optimistic” in its forecast last week that the eurozone economy would shrink by 0.4 per cent in 2012 and rise by 0.2 per cent next year.

“I’m more pessimistic than they are (about growth)... I see significant risk of continuing turmoil,” he said in New Delhi on the sidelines of a conference held by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“Spain and Greece are in depression, not recession. That impact was brought about by austerity” with the countries now trapped in a vicious cycle of spending cuts and slumping growth, he told AFP.

Stiglitz, who served as a top advisor to the former US president Bill Clinton, was speaking on the eve of a key two-day summit of the EU leaders in Brussels that will seek to address the eurozone crisis.

“Austerity is bringing Europe down and diminishes chances of making things work,” said the Nobel laureate who is a professor at New York’s Columbia University.

Unemployment in nearly bankrupt Greece is at 25.1 per cent as its economy contracts and it negotiates with lenders about more budget cuts.

In Spain, the jobless rate is 24.6 per cent with the government unveiling new spending curbs as it seeks to fend off another bailout that would bring more foreign supervision of the Spanish budget.—AFP