DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The latest developments from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where top executives and world leaders are meeting this week. All times local.
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10:45 a.m.
A top Russian official says his country needs to work fast to diversify the oil-dependent economy, amid new trouble for the ruble and a bleak outlook for the year.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev also expressed hope for greater understanding from the West.
“This is the responsibility of the government to enact reforms quickly to diversify the Russian economy and to replace the diminishing income from oil prices,” Trutnev said Friday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. He said he hopes Russia boosts domestic production and builds “the foundation for a new economy” in the coming two or three years.
Despite current East-West tensions, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia should be a part of Western institutions such as the Group of Seven and the OECD.
He said low oil prices “reshaped our reality” and predicted a risky 2016 for the Russian economy.
Russia’s Central Bank chief was supposed to head the Russian delegation at the Davos gathering of business and political leaders, but pulled out at the last minute as the ruble hit historic lows.
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9:45 a.m.
Christine Lagarde, the French woman who is head of the International Monetary Fund, says she wants another term.
Lagarde told France-2 television on Friday that she wanted to continue at the helm of the organization, which has coordinated bailouts for countries and monitors economic reforms globally. Britain and Germany gave key backing Thursday, and Lagarde said she had also received support from China, South Korea and Mexico.
Developing countries have increasingly opposed an informal arrangement by which a European heads the IMF. The sister organization, the World Bank, has until recently typically been led by an American.
Lagarde spoke from Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum of business leaders and public figures, amid turmoil in global markets.
