NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros told Bloomberg TV on Thursday he sees a hard landing for China's economy contributing to global deflation.

"A hard landing is practically unavoidable," Soros said on Bloomberg from Davos. "I’m not expecting it, I’m observing it. China can manage it. It has resources and greater latitude in policies, with $3 trillion in reserves."

Soros said the slowdown in China stemming from over-indebtedness is inflicting its problems on the rest of the world. China, along with falling oil prices and raw materials, are the root causes of deflation.

Soros, who founded Soros Fund Management and now is chairman of the New York-based firm, said he shorted the S&P 500 and now is not the time to buy.

In his comments to Bloomberg, Soros added that he is long U.S. government bonds and said Russia is in a very, very weak position. He believes Russia has enough reserves to last for just "a couple of years."

(Jan 21, 2016 3:53 PM  Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; editing by Bernard Orr and Tom Brown)