well in some other countries it would be far harder to deal with that is why everybody is more concerned about portugal spain and italy these economies are presently in a tight spot and they're also getting more support than others as the european central bank is committing the bulk of its resources to bailing out these three countries however this support may prove to be ill timed or coma at a high cost if we can say that economies are both great and small are still facing risks do you think it's appropriate to talk about a certain see when it comes to the european union considering they're fighting off shores right now yet have territories such as cyprus and british virgin islands. it does have a touch of double standard policy about if those nations have an opportunity for shutting down those offshore havens they certainly should have done so. who do you think is primarily responsible for the fact that offshore schemes are being conducted right in front of the regulators eyes do you think it's the regulators

themselves the banks isn't it with. the scale and scope of the two thousand and seven two thousand a crisis in the context of a globalized world was impossible to predict the magnitude of the crisis took everyone by surprise the crisis has taken its toll on every economy the u.s. is presently struggling with a budget deficit the u.k. is saddled with an enormous deficit complete with negative economic growth none of those countries had anticipated that these economic ills would overlap in such a way that it would inflict such a severe downturn on them one could argue that it was economists who had failed to give us an early warning or that it was the regulators who had failed to account for all the risks or maybe and i think this is the case it was politicians who had allowed a boost in spending without securing revenues are driven as they often are by populist russia now as a result those economies were essentially living on credit i believe that one of

the major precursors to the crisis has been exactly the fact that politicians oversaw an accumulation of debt fact when their economies were enjoying positive economic growth growth periods should normally be used to reduce debt when the crisis broke out those economies found themselves ridden with debt with no reserves to use as a safety cushion therefore i think politicians are primarily responsible for the fall after a rather a direct question now what happened in cyprus can we describe this is an action to expropriate russian money and in general how much money did russia lose out on this or do you agree with president vladimir putin saying that what happened there is going to make investors more inclined to keep russian money to keep their money in russia. i wouldn't call it a. action to expropriate russian money since there were not too many options to choose from this is a very unpleasant way to deal with the problem maybe even the worst possible plan

but at least this is some kind of solution there was a better way to deal with the situation i think that the e.u. should have given more money to cyprus however the e.u. also depends on the politics of its member countries they didn't want to cover the losses of investors from other countries most of the investors were from russia and the u.k. which german taxpayers don't care much about russian or u.k. investors which that's why the choices were limited but again the e.u. had enough resources to solve this problem and be done with it they didn't have to go with the worst case scenario i think it was a better choice cutting investors' money is always the worst solution it's the worst case scenario that set a bad precedent which can cause crises in banking systems of less developed european countries everybody knows now that this scenario can be used in other countries as well. in general the crisis in cyprus and the off shore leak scandal the fact that they more or less come at the same time is this

a coincidence presented to you to say that it may not be a coincidence and there are some facts that support this view that as we know there was a major smear campaign in european countries there was a discussion of illegal russian money hidden in this zone as a result the public had a negative view of russian bank accounts in cyprus i can't really tell if russia was targeted specifically for this punishment but there are some facts that support this idea. now there's currently a pretty strong anti offshore campaign ongoing clearing a campaign against tax evasion which the organization for economic cooperation and development has gotten involved in why do you think it is that for decades everyone seemed to be fine with offshores and now it really seems to be kind of the main counsellor in the european economy. political course that is a perpetual issue when there is enough money there there is

a feeling that it's ok to spend more or to increase taxes for your taxpayers finding money doesn't seem such a problem of course but once the current crisis broke out the g twenty was the first to come up with a list of offshore financial centers that were to be placed under regulatory oversight i was present at that meeting some three years ago it was province which initially brought up this issue since france has been exposed to rampant capital flight to offshore banks for purposes of tax avoidance and when economies find themselves in a fix and there is no more room for the government to raise taxes that is when they go looking for runaway capital to taxes so the crisis has supposedly made it a pressing issue politically there is a certain impression that problems in the european union and the united states here seem to be sort of piling up and not being dealt with debt unemployment dealing with the financial sector do you think there is really some kind of gentle way of getting out of these problems or do you think that the crisis will show its face

yet again somewhere. this is the biggest question which everybody is concerned with at the moment a central banks adopt policies to mitigate the crisis and governments raise taxes or reduce them in order to stimulate the economy. it everyone is wondering whether we are actually solving the problem or merely deferring it maybe we are just biding time to reform our banking system but either our reforms are difficult to implement or there is not enough time undoubtedly there are fears that the crisis may still escalate we're already witnessing a double dip recession in europe europe is probably looking at another year in recession if the springs from the meltdown of two thousand and eight which means it is being hit by a second wave of the crisis and everyone is wondering whether double dip recession will become a worldwide phenomenon so far it's difficult to predict anything with a degree of confidence but since all of the inefficiencies and imbalances remain

unresolved to date there is a chance of a global second wave now in a more general question do you think people are living in developed countries are prepared to change their model of consumption their lifestyles are they ready for something like that. this is a good question which politically i think no one is ready but it's very hard to make such a decision whether personally or politically to cut health care education and road infrastructure it's very hard to decide to restrain oneself and it's difficult for people to agree to such measures this isn't something they would want to do yet it is something that they'll have to do at some point those countries that come to terms with it quicker will probably get an additional chance of becoming more competitive in the future but now our question more about you would you be attracted by by the opportunity of working in the russian government again. going to show no post media would be i've answered this question

a number of times before it's not up to me to decide whether i should work there or not if the government should be appointing people to work that but i strongly disagree with the present government's policy which was actually the reason i stopped working there i would be interested in implementing a different policy though but this isn't an option at the moment so i'm not driving to work in the government right now. if you don't the one in the becoming the head of russia's central bank do you think women in finance says is that a new trend or will it still be a man's world after all. and i think it will be a trend to slowly growing generally women will expand their role in society due to emancipation and more equal rights in all areas of life in this sense the role of women has been underdeveloped and deservingly constraint. there were many reasons for it such as traditional views and other difficulties that stopped women from being just as equally independent and committed to work but this will be changing

over time so i believe this is a long term good slowly progressing trend. aleksey kudrin thank you very much for your time with us today thank you. without your. consent. to. choose the stories but in. truth access to.

live. live live. live . lippold.

live. good speech. which. ultimately. limits good lives. just seem to. come out of funimation a little. because

. they. live. today's top stories in a roundup of the week's headlines terrorist strikes in the u.s. for the first time since nine eleven blasts hit the boston marathon and the manhunt that followed plunges the city into fear. seven dead as

post-election violence flares in venezuela this week with the opposition angry over presidential loss hugo chavez a successor meanwhile promises a revolution within a revolution the world's most oil rich nation. a devastating fertilizer plant explosion leaves entire neighborhoods of a texas town blowing clear the fog over lax regulations and glaring safety sure four. plus bahrain's government gives the green light to sunday's formula one race amid clashes and protests by tens of thousands as the opposition shifts the world's focus to the country's poor human rights record.