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Mahathir Calls for ‘Future Strategy ’ to Deal with Global Crisis

The Forum was organised by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia) in Riyadh.

He stressed the need to improve the functioning of the international monetary system and start a process of systemic rebuilding, saying that “US President Barack Obama will not solve the problem alone.” Recent credit crisis seems to confirm the fears that the globalisation of financial markets may present important challenges.

The world was not aware of the dangers of systemic risk or systemic crisis in financial markets, which is more evident in the case of Western nations where supervision of the financial market is minimal, he pointed. “This is contrary to the Eastern countries, where you have greater supervision,” he said, and added that Malaysia has looked toward the East in an effort to use its good practices that have helped to boost its economy.

Mahathir said that attempts were made to overlook the problems and patch them up, which later surfaced with alarming proportions.

He referred to the Enron and AIG failures in the US to substantiate his point. He, however, admitted that Malaysia is also feeling the adverse impact of the global recession mainly because of the fact that it has been traditionally a trading nation. “We have been exporting $100 billion worth of goods and services annually,” he said while referring to the sharp decline in Malaysian 
exports .
habib@khaleejtimes.com