Fiscal austerity measures being practiced in the eurozone will make a recession more severe, Nouriel Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC, said in a presentation in Johannesburg.

“In the short term raising taxes and cutting government spending has a negative effect on growth,” Roubini said.

Restoring growth in some parts of the eurozone is “mission impossible,” he said, adding that the region’s policy response has been “inadequate.”