Developing nations should prepare for 'Lehmans moment', says World Bank chief Robert Zoellick

Developing nations must be ready for a severe global financial crisis should the eurozone fail to cope with its current problems and suffer a "Lehmans moment", outgoing World Bank chief Robert Zoellick has said.

By Reuters

Policymakers and investors are nervously awaiting the outcome of this weekend's Greek election, which could empower radical leftists threatening to tear up the terms of a bailout deal and send shockwaves through financial markets.

Developing countries needed to "prepare for the uncertainty coming out of the eurozone and the wider financial markets", Zoellick told the Observer.

"It will be better if they can avoid piling up short-term debts that can come due in volatile periods and look to the fundamentals of future growth - infrastructure and human capital," he said.

The World Bank had been increasing its lending to support Bulgaria's banking system - one of the most exposed to Greece - and acting to prevent a credit crunch in southeast Europe, the paper reported Zoellick as saying.

The bank was also taking unspecified measures to protect countries in north Africa that were vulnerable to Europe's debt crisis and trade finance facilities were being strengthened for francophone west Africa, the newspaper added.

"Uncertainty in markets is now starting to increase costs for developing countries," Zoellick said. "The ripple effects are making everybody's life harder."

In a reference to tensions in the eurozone over Greece's future, Zoellick said: "Europe may be able to muddle through but the risk is rising. There could be a Lehmans moment if things are not properly handled."

The bankruptcy of US bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 triggered a global financial slump that indebted Western nations are still struggling to recover from.

Market rumor: Pimco and JP Morgan halt vacations to prepare for economic crash

By Kenneth Schortgen Jr

On June 1, market rumors were coming out of a hedge fund luncheon stating that Pimco, JP Morgan, and other financial companies were cancelling summer vacations for employees so they could prepare for a major 'Lehman type' economic crash projected for the coming months.  These rumors came on a day when the markets nearly came to capitulation, with the DOW falling more than 274 points, and gold soaring over $63 as traders across the board fled stocks and moved into safer investments.

Todd Harrison is the CEO of the award winning internet media company Minyanville, while Todd Shoenberger is a managing principal at the Blackbay Group, and an adjunct professor of Finance at Cecil College.

Pimco and JP Morgan Chase are not the only financial institutions worried about a potential repeat of the 2008 credit crisis.  On May 31, one day before Pinco rumors began to spread around the markets, World Bank President Robert Zoellick issued the same warnings of a potential 'rerun of the great panic of 2008'.

The head of the World Bank yesterday warned that financial markets face a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008.

On the bleakest day for the global economy this year, Robert Zoellick said crisis-torn Europe was heading for the ‘danger zone’.

Mr Zoellick, who stands down at the end of the month after five years in charge of the watchdog, said it was ‘far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves’ for the looming catastrophe amid fears of a Greek exit from the single currency and meltdown in Spain. - The Daily Mail
 Market indicators over the past two months in Europe have been signalling an economic slowdown, with the potential for total economic collpase increasing over the past few weeks.  The US markets have dropped more than 1000 points since their highs in March, and on Friday, all gains for the year were completely wiped out after the shocking jobs report was issued.

Additionally, a new study from a former hedge fund manager on May 31st outlined that for the first time in the economic cycle, economies did not recover all their losses from prior recessions before going into a new one.  The conclusions point to the need for a complete reset of the financial systems, as capitalism and central bank intervention (money printing) no longer have any real effect on economic growth.

When one company decides to cancel vacations, or impose additional workloads on their employees due to projected events, it is not considered relative news.  However, when several institutions, analysts, and even the head of the World Bank acknowledge a coming crisis, then everyone needs to come to the realization that something big is on the horizon that will have an effect on both Wall Street and Main Street.  The rumors out on June 1 regarding Pimco and JP Morgan should be a wake up call to all investors that Friday's market drops across the board are just the beginning of what could be a repeat of 2008, only much worse this time around.