George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, believes the ongoing crisis in the EU poses a "big danger" to economic and political progress in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).
"I see the 'Arab Spring' as one of the more hopeful swings in the world today, and while it is still going on I believe it is a case of 'so far, so good.' But I worry that Europe's problems might seriously affect its trading partners in the Mena region.
"It is important this revolution in [parts of] the Arab world should be successful, because if they are not what follows is likely to be much less benign," he said.
"Exports from Tunisia to Europe dropped by 10 per cent just in the month of last November. I am worried that the EU crisis would pose a threat to the very positive developments in politics and economics taking place in the Arab world."
The Hungarian financier also said tensions within the Mena region, especially with regard to Iran, were likely to keep the oil prices high this year.
"There is a tremendous tension with regard to Iran and the Iranian government is in dire straits. The Arab Spring is seriously affecting Syria and this will eventually endanger the Iranian regime, which is very divided and narrowly based among the country's population. So [Iranian politicians] are looking to make up external threats, and that makes the situation very dangerous indeed."
The view that oil prices are likely to remain at about current historically high levels was echoed elsewhere in Davos yesterday.
"If you look at the recent comments of the Saudi Arabian oil minister, that gives you a good idea of where it's going," said Peter Voser, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell and the co-chair of the 2012 WEF.
Ali Al Naimi, the Saudi minister, said recently the kingdom wanted to stabilize oil prices at about US$100 per barrel. "That price does not hurt the world economy," he said.
Mr Voser agreed. "You need a high enough price to attract investment and allow development. $100 allows you to do those things," he said.
Brent Crude was selling at near $110 per barrel yesterday, but many analysts have forecast it will fall to as little as $80 later this year if global demand declines in line with growth forecasts, especially in the Asian economies.
Mr Voser said any price in the region of $50 to $90 was sufficient to cover most of his company's global projects.
Mr Soros was scathing of the efforts by the EU governments to hammer out a solution to the European debt crisis. "The measures introduced by the European Central Bank have relieved liquidity problems of European banks, but they do not cure the financing disadvantage from which the highly indebted member states suffer. It leaves the weaker members of the euro zone relegated to the status of third-world countries that became highly indebted in a foreign currency.
"Instead of the IMF, Germany is acting as the task master imposing tough financial discipline. This will generate both economic and political tensions that could destroy the EU," he said. He said the kind of anti-EU sentiment recently seen in Hungary was "what lies in store for the whole EU".
Some executives at Davos yesterday mounted a defence of capitalism, which has come under attack from activists around the world and even from Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum.
David Rubenstein, the co-founder and managing director of the asset management firm Carlyle Group, based in Washington, opened the day's panel debates with the statement: "Capitalism may be the worst of systems, except for every other system."
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