Mr Chopra: A sober hand at helm

THIS weekend we may see the first outline of what Ireland’s most powerful man, Indo-Canadian Ajai Chopra, the IMF deputy director of the European Department, has in mind as he attempts to restructure an economy suffering from meltdown.

Despite his representation in the media as an aloof power broker, Mr Chopra’s previous record and own musings on his IMF blog site give some indication of what might be expected.

Chopra cut his teeth with the world’s most powerful financial organisation during the late 1990s IMF intervention in the collapse of the East Asia Tiger economies. He was the lead IMF operative in the restructuring of the South Korean economy. His resolute approach to dismantling the previously all-powerful “Chaebols” — Korean conglomerate multinational corporations — will send a chill down the spine of our own would-be conglomerate bosses.