THE United States would eventually recover from the current financial crisis and 'we will all survive', said Dr Tony Tan, deputy chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).
'In these difficult times, I think one has to have a sense of perspective... This is not the end of the world. This is not the end of the US as an investment market, we believe,' he said inWashington on Sunday.
He was addressing questions during a Q&A session at the annual meeting of the Institute for International Finance.
Responding to a query on when sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) around the world might reinvest in banks, Dr Tan said that as the funds are long-term investors, they are less bothered by the day-to-day or month-to-month fluctuations in share prices.
'As to when the SWFs will reinvest in banks again, the SWFs would have to look at the present investment landscape and try to work out what implications this might have for their investments,' he said, adding that the purpose of an organisation like the GIC is to invest for a sustainable financial return.
'For example, the GIC has large investments in the US. The US will, in our view, remain - in spite of everything - a resilient and well-diversified economy,' he said.
'And any international investor, including the GIC, must still invest in the US.' Dr Tan added that the current problems will be overcome at some stage, and that if governments and policymakers make the right decisions, the damage can be limited.
'The markets will still go on, the economies will manage, and we will all survive,' he said.
