On the opening morning of the 2008 World Economic Forum, a panel of 6 eminent economists and politicians gathered to weigh in with their views on the prospects for the global economy in 2008. Hosted by TIME International Editor, Michael Elliott, the debate does not make easy listening.

Nouriel Roubini, a professor of economics at New York University, accuses the Federal Reserve and the ECB of being “behind the curve” and predicts a “protracted case of pneumonia” for the U.S. economy. Ferenc Gyurcsany, Prime Minister of Hungary, acknowledges that Europe sitting and waiting for the USA to act “is perhaps not a well founded approach” for the continent. The director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Yu Yongming, states that China is more dependent than ever on external demand and that “if there is a significant slowdown in the global economy the impact on the Chinese economy will be very serious,” while Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at The World Bank, expresses concern about the impact of rising food prices on Africa.

Only India’s Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, feels that “The economic bleakness in the West is not matched by economic bleakness in the East”.   And while Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Roach doubts that the world will sink into an actual global recession (defined by annual GDP growth of less than 2.5%) he predicts it will come “closer than we think”.

Hear more of their insightful, though worrying, predictions for 2008.