CURRENT POLITICS

Bank for International Settlements, Annual Report, 29 June 1914.

Long shadow of the crisis

challenges are serious and new risks are emerging

The upswing has disappointed.

Debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratios are now 275 per cent in the advanced economies and 175 per cent in the Emerging Market Economies.

This surge in debt has postponed the day of reckoning.

Debt is not the only headwind.

Must tackle the others head-on.

Reverse the decline in productivity growth

Address structural deficiencies.

That will require

further liberalization of product and labour markets,

Revised tax codes

And a more focused use of public spending.

Traders [Speculators] likely to game the rules [cheat]

Stringent regulation essential

Need proactive, rigorous and intrusive supervision.

Confidence dented by manipulation in favour of the big money.

We can hardly expect such efforts to be popular.