UN General Assembly
2015

Then in 2008, with the fall of Lehman Brothers on Wall Street, came an economic crisis that we are still experiencing, but with several differences. Although it began here at the very heart of international finance, there had in fact been signs of a crisis, namely, the 2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis, which ultimately exploded in 2008. The year 2009 marked the global economic collapse, except in Asian countries. Even in Latin America, we experienced negative growth that year. In 2010 the crisis spread to the eurozone, and off they went to the rescue of indebted countries. We all know that was a euphemism; the banks were actually the ones they went to rescue. Billions of dollars were transferred to banking institutions. I still remember a discussion that took place in London at the Group of 20. Our position was that, while it was necessary to save the banks to stave off a 1930s-type depression, it was also absolutely essential that there be regulation so that the tide of resources that was being injected into the financial sector should flow back to the real economy, enter the goods and services production cycle and make the wheels of growth turn again.