gulfnews : Gulf banks can handle slowdown

Banks in the GCC and wider Middle East are adequately capitalised to meet the fallout from a global economic slowdown or a double-dip recession, according to analysts.

Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sunday warned that the world economy is in a dangerous phase and that officials should take new steps to strengthen growth. She called on European authorities to boost capitalization levels of European banks to prevent the sovereign debt crises of some countries from infecting more countries.

While calling on European banks to fortify their capital bases, Legarde said that decoupling between emerging economies and developed economies is a myth and warned that if the advanced countries succumb to recession, the emerging, markets will not escape.

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