I couldn't keep my semi-live blogging promise yesterday, but I will probably write about the conference in my Hurriyet column in the next two weeks. In the meantime, let me give you some spoilers:
Loukas Tsoukalis seemed extremely knowledgeable. Francesco Paolo Mongelli gave really good insights, although I had a tough time hearing him, and Aykut Kibritcioglu had an extensive presentation. Finally, ex-Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti gave very interesting insights on the relationship between economics and politics, in addition to criticizing the fiscal stance after 2006 and refusing to answer a question on current Turkish monetary policy on grounds that this wasn't the time and place to do that- but he did say that he could give an extensive interview to a newspaper (attention journalists!!!) and asked everyone to read what the Bank is writing, listen to what it is saying carefully. This last point seemed very proper, as the lady asking the question said that "she understood that the CBT was raising reserve requirements to curb capital flows":)....
And it was amazing how much the points made by different panelists seemed so similar, even for the ones who had not heard each other. Here are a couple of bullet points:
- European policymakers know what the problem is as well as the solutions. But the crisis is not being solved because doing so involves certain costly decisions. So it is a political decision.
- Turkey during 1994 and 2001 crises offers important lessons to EU policymakers- such as: Central Bankers should not assume government will put fiscal books in order; one successful auction does not mean the crisis is over...
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