Societe Generale seconds RBS doomsday prophecy and predicts collapse of the eurozone

Albert Edwards, a strategist at Société Générale bank, has warned of an impending global financial crisis similar to the one that occurred in 2008-09. This time, he said, it could lead to the collapse of the eurozone.

The warning follows a recent note issued by analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to investors to "sell everything" ahead of an imminent stock market crash. It also comes at a time when global markets see a short period of relief from the bearish trend that commenced since the New YEar.

At an investment conference in London, Edwards said: "Developments in the global economy will push the US back into recession. The financial crisis will reawaken. It will be every bit as bad as in 2008-09 and it will turn very ugly indeed. Can it get any worse? Of course it can."

He explained that while value of currencies in emerging markets was on the decline, the appreciation of the US dollar was crushing the corporate sector and that the credit expansion in the country was not for real economic activity, but was borrowings to finance share buybacks.

Edwards stressed that the US economy was in far worse shape than what the US Federal Reserve had realised and that America's central bank had failed to learn the lessons of the housing bubble that led to the financial crisis and slump in 2008-09. "They didn't understand the system then and they don't understand how they are screwing up again. Deflation is upon us and the central banks can't see it," he said.

The Société Générale strategist compared US with Japan and said that the dollar had risen by as much as the Japanese yen in the 1990s – a move which had then put Japan into deflation and caused solvency problems for banks in the Asian country, according to The Guardian.

Regarding the euro, he said that efforts by the European Central Bank to push for growth and lower the euro would not matter in the event of a fresh downturn. "If the global economy goes back into recession, it is curtains for the eurozone," he said.

Rising unemployment that would be associated with another recession would not be accepted by countries such as France, Spain and Italy. "What a disaster the euro has been: it is a doomsday machine in favour of the German economy," Edwards claimed.

He also said that the declining demand for credit in China was another sign of the crisis to come. "That happens when people lose confidence that policymakers know what they are doing. This is what is going to happen in Europe and the US."