EBRD head says U.S. election's market impact not yet clear

Record ID: 79610

  • Title: EBRD head says U.S. election's market impact not yet clear
  • Date: 10th November 2016
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (NOVEMBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) HEAD OF EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT (EBRD), SUMA CHAKRABARTI, SPEAKING AT RECEPTION FOR EBRD CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS PEOPLE LISTENING CHAKRABARTI SPEAKING PHOTOGRAPHER AND PEOPLE REFLECTED IN MIRROR (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF EBRD, SUMA CHAKRABARTI, SAYING: "Well, I think we've seen an immediate impact, but I think we have to wait for the medium term to see the impact of the election results, you can't tell what necessarily happens. We had the Brexit result and things did not quite pan out the way people thought they would so we have to wait and take a sober judgment. But I think this election result tells us that there is a great number of people in many of our countries, many of the EBRD shareholding countries, who are feeling disaffected, who are feeling that somehow the world economic system has let them down." VIEW OF CITY AT NIGHT CITY VIEW WITH TRAMS PASSING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF EBRD, SUMA CHAKRABARTI, SAYING: "Two areas in Poland I think we must watch because a lot of people have said a lot of things about it. One is the banking sector, and the other - the capital markets aside, the other is very much the energy sector, the real energy sector. EBRD has invested a huge amount in recent years to try and grow the renewable energy sector but that is based on a set of policies which is very important for investors. If those policies get changed, if the renewable sector framework gets changed that could impact negatively on future investment by us and by other investors. So we are in this watching period, I think, with Poland." BUDAPEST CITY VIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF EBRD, SUMA CHAKRABARTI, SAYING: (AUDIO AS INCOMING) "In situations like stress and crisis this is understandable, but at the same time it's incredibly important that the trials that are coming, of all these people who have been accused of behaviour against the state that are really fair and properly executed these trials. So obviously we were working with looking at what civil societies have been saying, as well as what government is saying and taking a very close eye on this, it is very, very important to us." CITY VIEW
  • Embargoed: 25th November 2016 09:59
  • Keywords: U.S. election Trump EBRD
  • Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA00157V2RT3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The lasting market impact of Donald Trump's U.S. presidential election win will not be clear until his administration's policy ideas become known, the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday (November 9).
    Wall Street stocks rose sharply on Wednesday, bouncing from a dramatic overnight sell-off in a volatile initial reaction to Trump's surprise win. Treasury yields rose on concerns his policies would ultimately weaken the dollar and hike inflation.
    "We have seen an immediate impact, but I think we have to wait for the medium term to see the (broader) impact," Suma Chakrabarti told Reuters in an interview during a conference in Budapest.
    "We had the Brexit result and things did not quite pan out the way people thought they would so we have to wait and take a sober judgment".
    The U.S. policy picture would be clearer by the end of January, he said.
    The election result was another sign that many people, in many of EBRD's shareholding countries, were feeling disaffected and "feeling that the world economic system had let them down."
    He said the EBRD was closely watching developments in the Polish banking and energy sectors to see to see what kind of policies the government adopts.
    "If... the renewable sector framework is changed, that could impact negatively on future investment by us and by other investors," he added.
    Poland could be EBRD's third biggest market this year with around 700 million euros invested.
    Turning to Turkey, which is the EBRD's biggest market with over 1.9 billion euros (1.67 billion pounds) invested last year, Chakrabarti said the bank was keeping a close eye on the trials of people allegedly implicated in a failed coup attempt in July.
    Turkish authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people, including teachers, public officials and journalists, since then.
    Chakrabarti said that introducing a state of emergency was understandable, "but at the same time it is incredibly important that the trials that are coming... are really fair."
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