Markets are ignoring serious risks, says Citigroup chief economist

Singapore

FINANCIAL markets are "completely ignoring" serious downside risks to the global economy emanating from sources such as China, Brexit, the US economy and the European Union (EU), Citigroup's global chief economist Willem Buiter has said.

Speaking at the Asian Monetary Policy Forum on Friday, he said that while this year's global economic growth is running at a decent rate of about 3 per cent in real terms, the markets are focusing only on the most benign scenarios, without regard to the accompanying risks - and there are plenty of them.