The minister, who has been criticized for hiding information about the looming financial crisis from the public while serving as a finance minister in 2008, said on Friday that many internationally-aclaimed economists had failed to foretell the economic crisis at the time. Escalation of risks might have negative consequences, therefore the authorities must behave with moderation, he said.
“I think there has already been enough talk on this subject... I can only add that the Economist has rebuked the entire community of economists for their first ever failure to predict or warn about the unfolding of subprime mortgage crisis in the US,” Šadžius, 52, told reporters after his meeting with Grybauskaitė which lasted for about 30 minutes.
The politician, who holds a degree in law, said that the public had been notified about potential threats.
“Nobody ever concealed any information. The discussions that took place at that time, information about risks... Escalation of risks may have very practical negative economic consequences. Any authorities must behave with moderation while reporting all risks to the public. This is exactly what we did,” the candidate claimed.
Šadžius had previously acknowledged that, back in 2008, the Social Democrats intentionally kept silent about the looming crisis so as to retain people’s trust and allegedly ensure better terms for raising money on credit markets.
Šadžius worked as finance minister in 2007-2008. Between 2003 and 2007 he served as deputy social welfare and labor minister, deputy health minister, and deputy finance minister.
