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Axel Weber, the president of Deutsche Bundesbank, the German Central Bank, from 2004 to 2011, and a member of European Central Bank Governing Council, will participate in the 2012 Global Financial Markets Forum (GFMF), which will be held in Abu Dhabi on February 29 and March 1st.
GFMF, an annual conference organised by the Financial Markets Division of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) invites some of the biggest names in global finance and draws hundreds of investors and market observers to Abu Dhabi.
The prominent speakers at this year’s GFMF include Paul Volcker, who served as an economic advisor to President Barack Obama and as chairman of the US Federal Reserve System.
Mr. Weber’s keynote address, to be delivered on the second day of the GFMF, is titled “Eurozone Challenges and Opportunities: The Central Banker.”
“Every year we structure unique and time-critical subjects for the GFMF. Last year, we invited speakers who addressed economic challenges as observers and investors; this year’s keynote speakers are experienced policy-makers who can explain the monetary challenges and proposed regulations and policies toward global recovery,” says Sameh Abdulla Al Qubaisi, the General Manager of Institutional and Corporate Coverage Group at NBAD’s Financial Markets Division.
Axel Weber was recently appointed Chairman at UBS, a position which he will take up in 2012.
In a recent conversation with GFMF’s organisers on challenges faced by the EU and the Eurozone, Mr. Weber says: “2012 will be a challenging year for Europe and the Eurozone in particular. Around the globe, the outlook for economic growth has deteriorated as the public sector, financial companies, and households in many advanced economies are retrenching simultaneously. At the same time, emerging market economies’ policy tightening, aimed at curbing inflationary pressures, is taking effect and has equally led to a reduction in regional growth prospects. The associated reduction of global aggregate demand and ensuing weakness in export markets is having a strong impact on European countries’ capabilities to put their public finances on a more solid footing and to implement profound structural reforms.”
He adds “It is essential to take decisive action and to devise and implement sustainable solutions that take member states’ diverging starting conditions, conflicting interests as well as public expectations into account. Austerity is a crucial precondition for preventing further pressure from financial markets and rating agencies, but structural reforms to improve competitiveness are essential to turn the Eurozone’s fortunes around.”
He believes that “the economic outlook for GCC countries in 2012 remains very solid, as they are key beneficiaries of higher oil prices and production… financial strength puts the GCC countries in a position to foster domestic demand and thereby to contribute to the reduction of global imbalances through a lowering of external surpluses,”.
Mr. Weber says: “In the short term, (GCC) budgets will remain in surplus and provide states with sufficient fiscal leeway to address any emerging challenges. In the longer term, however, an increasing structural reliance on higher oil prices risks counteracting this positive assessment, curtailing financial flexibility instead.”
He continued: “A second challenge for the entire region will be to implement structural reforms, which hold the potential to further improve local standards of living. At the same time, dependency on international oil prices can be gradually reduced through such reforms, fostering GCC countries’ resilience against changes in external conditions and further consolidating the foundations for sustainable economic growth.”
“From a regional perspective, GCC countries acted as a central stabilizing force for the entire MENA region over the past year. Also in 2012, many advanced economies will be occupied with their internal affairs and thus be constrained in their capacity to cooperate with non-GCC MENA countries and to help bring about a smooth transition to a new steady state. GCC countries therefore have a great opportunity to work together with their neighboring countries in realizing the region’s vast economic potential,” Mr. Weber concluded.
Further details about the Forum are provided on http://www.gfmf-nbad.com/
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