Strategy squared

The BBC are running a news story today (here) that puts the cost of the worldwide credit crunch at approximately $1Trillion dollars.

These figures come from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) who has warned that as the credit crunch seeps into other areas such as business debt, consumer credit and commercial property losses will deepen.

Now while $1 Trillion dollars is a lot of money - quite how accurate the calculation is remains to be seen however the IMF have certainly put the issue into context.

The most interesting thing about the article is its attempt to find someone to pin the blame on. The IMF report that “regulation by governments and poor supervision by banks for allowing the situation to develop.” Complacency about the risks involved has led to worldwide problems.

There seems to be little commentary about recovery plans or how long the situation will last - certainly lending is under increasing pressure with various mortgage providers around the world reducing (or in some cases completely withdrawing) products from the market).