西班牙──欧元的下一个战场

The Euro's Next Battleground: Spain
Greece set off the crisis rattling the euro zone. Spain could determine whether the 16-nation currency stands or falls.

The euro zone's No. 4 economy, Spain has an unemployment rate of 19%, a deflating housing bubble, big debts and a gaping budget deficit. Its gross domestic product contracted 3.6% in 2009 and is expected to shrink again this year, leaving Spain in its deepest and longest recession in a half-century.

Worries over Greece's ability to finance its huge debts have spread to other, weaker members of the euro zone, but these same fears are now nipping at Spain's heels. The problem is that, thanks largely to its membership in the euro, Spain lacks tried-and-true means to heal its economy.

Spain can't devalue its currency to make its exports more attractive and its sunny beach resorts cheaper because the euro's value is driven by Germany's bigger, competitive industrial economy. Madrid can't slash interest rates or print money to spur borrowing and spending, because those decisions are now made in Frankfurt by the European Central Bank.

Spain could still try to stimulate growth through tax cuts and spending increases. But it has already mounted enormous stimulus spending that swelled its budget deficit to 11.4% of GDP last year, and it would need to sell more bonds to raise fresh cash. Buyers of Spanish government bonds, spooked by the prospect of a Greek default, have already demanded higher interest rates from Madrid.

'Spain is the real test case for the euro,' says Desmond Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. 'If Spain is in deep trouble, it will be difficult to hold the euro my own view is that Spain is in deep trouble.'

The government rejects talk of crisis. 'The fundamentals of our economy are solid,' Elena Salgado, Spain's economy minister, said in an interview.

Euro-zone heavyweights Germany and France have pledged to support Greece if necessary. But any bailout for Spain-whose $1.6 trillion economy is nearly double those of troubled euro-zone partners Greece, Portugal and Ireland combined-would be far costlier.

A 'shock and awe' infusion aimed at renewing faith in Spain's finances, should it be necessary, would take roughly $270 billion, according to an estimate by BNP Paribas. It estimates similar confidence-restoring moves in Greece, Ireland or Portugal would require $68 billion, $47 billion and $41 billion, respectively.

Most economists see three options for Spain.

The first is for the government to do nothing, leaving the economy to wallow through years of high unemployment and debt defaults. The second is for the government to take a more active role, slashing its spending while taking unpopular measures to boost the supply side of the economy, including overhauling a rigid labor market.

On Tuesday, Spain's top central banker strongly urged this path, calling in a speech for swift government action to reduce the budget deficit and reform the labor market.

Mr. Lachman of the American Enterprise Institute is among the pessimists who doubt the government will take this course. He thinks Spain's chronic inability to restart growth will lead it to contemplate a third option: splitting the euro zone asunder by withdrawing from the common currency. That would permit a devaluation that would, at a stroke, increase Spain's competitiveness and allow the economy to grow again.

A more mainstream view holds that no government, Spain's included, would dare to brave the financial chaos such a move would unleash.

'It's extremely costly to leave the euro,' said Jean Pisani-Ferry of Bruegel, a pro-European think tank in Brussels. The moment a government hinted at a possible devaluation, there would be a run on the banks and an effective default on every euro financial contract with that country. 'The day you start to admit that you're thinking about it, you're in a financial mess.'

西班牙──欧元的下一个战场
希腊引发了令欧元区动荡不安的危机。西班牙则可能决定16个国家使用的欧元是屹立还是倒下。

西班牙是欧元区第四大经济体，目前失业率为19%，楼市泡沫破裂，债务累累，预算赤字巨大。2009年西班牙国内生产总值(GDP)萎缩3.6%，预计今年会继续萎缩，令西班牙陷入50年来最深重、最漫长的衰退之中。

围绕希腊是否有能力偿还巨额债务的担忧扩散到了其他更弱的欧元区国家，不过这种担忧如今却在嗜咬着西班牙的脚跟。问题在于，主要因为西班牙是欧元区成员国，它缺乏经过实践检验的修复经济的途径。

由于欧元的价值由德国规模更大、更具竞争力的工业经济所推动，西班牙无法贬值货币来增加出口商品的吸引力或令阳光明媚的海滩度假胜地价格更便宜。马德里不能降息或印钞票来刺激借贷和支出，原因是降息和印钞票如今都是由在法兰克福的欧洲央行作决定。

西班牙仍可以通过减税和扩大支出来刺激增长。不过该国已经积累了巨额刺激支出，导致其预算赤字去年激增至GDP的11.4%，西班牙将需要发行更多债券来筹集新资。西班牙国债的买家因希腊违约的可能而感到不安，他们已经要求马德里提高利率了。

华盛顿美国企业研究院(American Enterprise Institute)的拉克曼(Desmond Lachman)说，西班牙是真正考验欧元的案例。如果西班牙深陷麻烦，欧元将难以坚持，我本人的看法是西班牙已经深陷麻烦了。

西班牙政府拒绝谈论危机。西班牙财长萨尔加多(Elena Salgado)在接受采访时说，我们的经济基本面是坚实的。

欧元区主要国家德国和法国承诺，必要时候会支持希腊。不过，考虑到西班牙规模1.6万亿美元的经济几乎是陷入困境的欧元区成员国希腊、葡萄牙和爱尔兰加在一起的两倍，对西班牙展开任何救助都要付出更加高昂的代价。

据法国巴黎银行(BNP Paribas)估计，必要时候将采取的旨在重振对西班牙财务状况信心的大规模注资将需要约2,700亿美元。该行估计，为重振对希腊、爱尔兰和葡萄牙的信心而进行的注资则分别需要680亿美元、470亿美元和410亿美元。

大部分经济学家认为西班牙有三种选择。

第一种选择是，政府不采取任何行动，任由经济多年处于高失业率和债务违约之中。第二种选择是，政府扮演更加积极的角色，削减支出，同时采取不受人欢迎的措施来提振供方，包括整顿死板的劳动力市场。

周二，西班牙央行行长强烈敦促选择第二种道路，在演讲中呼吁政府迅速采取行动，以便降低预算赤字，改革劳动力市场。

美国企业研究院的拉克曼是众多怀疑西班牙政府是否会采取这一途径的悲观人士之一。他认为，西班牙长期无力重启增长，这将导致它考虑第三种选择：退出欧元区，进而打破欧元区的统一。这样，西班牙就可以贬值货币，进而立即增加该国的竞争力，令经济恢复增长。

一种更加主流的看法是，任何一个国家的政府都不敢面对退出欧元区所带来的金融动荡，包括西班牙政府在内。

布鲁塞尔亲欧洲的智库Bruegel的皮萨尼-费瑞(Jean Pisani-Ferry)说，退出欧元区代价将非常高。一个国家的政府暗示可能贬值货币的那一刻，就会出现银行挤兑，与那个国家签订的任何欧元金融合约实际上都会违约。你开始承认自己在考虑退出欧元区的那一天，就已经陷入了金融困境。