Market
Conference
PM Lee says no guarantee crisis won't happen again
作者：25 发布时间：2010-05-17 文字大小：【大】【中】【小】
By Imelda Saad, Wong Siew Ying
SINGAPORE : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said there is nothing governments can do to guarantee a crisis will not happen again.
Speaking at a dialogue session attended by more than 500 business delegates from Asia and Germany, Mr Lee said it is the nature of financial markets that when a risk is taken, something will go wrong.
What governments can do is to learn from past mistakes although he noted it is "difficult to come up with a solution which is balanced, judicious and (can) stand the test of time" - for example, tightening rules to supervise banks and working these rules such that they are reasonably consistent around the world.
Mr Lee noted that this is a challenge as it is a "politicised issue". He said different countries have different perspectives and in the aftermath of the crash, many are looking for people, institutions, banks, regulators and governments to blame.
He said: "You will have to have a set of supervisors and ability to cooperate between jurisdictions and the wisdom to see the threat come the next time, in a different place from where it came this time and where you didn't even imagine there was a problem.
"Before this crisis, nobody had heard of sub-prime and the next time you have a crisis you can be sure it will come from some place we have not heard of yet."
The prime minister also said he hopes that the continuing difficulties in Europe will not delay German companies from pursuing long-term opportunities in Asia.
He said Asia's transformation is a fundamental one, not driven by liquidity or interest rates, but fuelled by talent and the hunger to do better. And this is an opportunity for German companies.
Greece, Portugal and Spain have been forced to impose severe austerity measures to rein in soaring public debts.
Mr Lee said: "We very much hope that Europe will be able to work out and agree upon effective measures to get their population to support these measures and make the changes necessary - both short term changes to deal with the immediate worries and uncertainties ... and longer term measures which are structural, which have to do with rules and incentives and systems."
Mr Lee said Singapore will continue to engage both ASEAN and China. He also urged German companies to use Singapore to test-bed their projects and enter Asian markets.
In particular, Mr Lee said China will be different in 10 years as the country continues to grow its capabilities. And Singapore, on its part, will need to keep up and stay relevant. And that is why Singapore has been striving to improve its economy and make its companies more competitive.
Mr Lee said: "We have to be able to move up in our game, so in 10 years ... we would be able to do new things, which is why we talked about the qualitative improvement to our economy - transform the quality of the operation of our companies so that they are competitive, so that we have something to add in China when China is more advanced than they are now today, which we must expect. If we are static, we will be left behind."
Going forward, Mr Lee said Singapore is betting on the high tech sector like solar and wind power. The sector has attracted investment by European companies into Singapore and Mr Lee expects global demand for such renewable energy to grow.
Sourced from www.channelnewsasia.com
SINGAPORE : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said there is nothing governments can do to guarantee a crisis will not happen again.
Speaking at a dialogue session attended by more than 500 business delegates from Asia and Germany, Mr Lee said it is the nature of financial markets that when a risk is taken, something will go wrong.
What governments can do is to learn from past mistakes although he noted it is "difficult to come up with a solution which is balanced, judicious and (can) stand the test of time" - for example, tightening rules to supervise banks and working these rules such that they are reasonably consistent around the world.
Mr Lee noted that this is a challenge as it is a "politicised issue". He said different countries have different perspectives and in the aftermath of the crash, many are looking for people, institutions, banks, regulators and governments to blame.
He said: "You will have to have a set of supervisors and ability to cooperate between jurisdictions and the wisdom to see the threat come the next time, in a different place from where it came this time and where you didn't even imagine there was a problem.
"Before this crisis, nobody had heard of sub-prime and the next time you have a crisis you can be sure it will come from some place we have not heard of yet."
The prime minister also said he hopes that the continuing difficulties in Europe will not delay German companies from pursuing long-term opportunities in Asia.
He said Asia's transformation is a fundamental one, not driven by liquidity or interest rates, but fuelled by talent and the hunger to do better. And this is an opportunity for German companies.
Greece, Portugal and Spain have been forced to impose severe austerity measures to rein in soaring public debts.
Mr Lee said: "We very much hope that Europe will be able to work out and agree upon effective measures to get their population to support these measures and make the changes necessary - both short term changes to deal with the immediate worries and uncertainties ... and longer term measures which are structural, which have to do with rules and incentives and systems."
Mr Lee said Singapore will continue to engage both ASEAN and China. He also urged German companies to use Singapore to test-bed their projects and enter Asian markets.
In particular, Mr Lee said China will be different in 10 years as the country continues to grow its capabilities. And Singapore, on its part, will need to keep up and stay relevant. And that is why Singapore has been striving to improve its economy and make its companies more competitive.
Mr Lee said: "We have to be able to move up in our game, so in 10 years ... we would be able to do new things, which is why we talked about the qualitative improvement to our economy - transform the quality of the operation of our companies so that they are competitive, so that we have something to add in China when China is more advanced than they are now today, which we must expect. If we are static, we will be left behind."
Going forward, Mr Lee said Singapore is betting on the high tech sector like solar and wind power. The sector has attracted investment by European companies into Singapore and Mr Lee expects global demand for such renewable energy to grow.
Sourced from www.channelnewsasia.com
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