Protectionism will spell an end to global recovery

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan was in relaxed mode when he addressed over 100 parliamentarians in Dublin this week whose conference topic was The World Financial Crisis.

Delegates from 30 of the 55 participating states of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were in Dublin to hear the minister say that market capitalism was facing its biggest challenge since the Great Depression.

His unscripted remarks were a reminder of how central bankers across the globe, and indeed his own advisers, were caught totally off guard by the emerging credit crisis in the US.