Manuel says world was warned about financial crisis

By Mishkah Anthony
19 March 2009

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel says the world was warned about the current global financial crisis.

Writing in the Financial Times, he said the historical record repeated itself - "confidence gives way to exuberance, panic is followed by decline, retrenchment precedes reconstruction."

He added that the world needed to acknowledge that the financial crisis could not be unwound without addressing global trade imbalances.

Manuel said the world needed a shared commitment to resist protectionism, and to take the actions required to build more balanced trade relations and earnings patterns.