The Russia Forum 2009 » Words of wisdom

Words of wisdom

04 February 2009 Raghuram Rajan, Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Busines: “Global finance ministers and the heads of national governments should meet regularly to work out a balanced and coordinated economic policy”

04 February 2009 Richard Clarida, Global Strategic Advisor, PIMCO: “Analysts should bear in mind that market participants do not properly estimate risks, which increases the risk of bubble creation”

04 February 2009 Joel Kurtzman, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kurtzman Group: “Bankers are too aggressive in extending credit, and pay less attention to collection. This was one of the reasons for the crises in Latin America in the 1980’s and 1990’s, as well as the current crisis”

04 February 2009 Hernando de Soto, President, Institute for Liberty and Democracy: “The current global financial crisis was the result of disregard for the quality of information. As a result, modern capitalism has lost its connection with reality. The global economy will start growing again only when it focuses on improving productivity”

04 February 2009 Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, Chief Economist, OECD: “The current crisis can be classified as one of certain aspects of macroeconomic policy, but not of capitalism itself”

04 February 2009 Igor Shuvalov, First Vice Premier of Russia: “Channeling all ‘bad assets’ to a single agency would entail high risks of corruption in Russia. This won’t happen.”

04 February 2009 Sergei Guriev, Rector, New Economic School: “What I expect from the Forum is deep analysis and a better understanding of what happened last year, both in Russia and in the surrounding world.”

04 February 2009 Jacques Der Megreditchian, Managing Director, Troika Dialog Group: “Unique opportunities exist in Russia right now for both financial and strategic investors.”

04 February 2009 Alexander Misharin, Deputy Transport Minister: “The government greatly emphasizes PPP in financing of infrastructure projects, and wants to raise the upper limit of the share of state financing to 75%. Infrastructure bonds will help attract additional financing by tapping pension fund investments”

04 February 2009 Eugene Chudnovskiy, Deputy CEO, Koltsovo Invest: “Private investor interest has diminished significantly as the crisis has unfolded. The government should step in with financing, while private investors will contribute effective management and technical expertise”