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The lesson of history is that you do not get a sustained economic recovery as long as the financial system is in crisis.

Previous governments, particularly the one before I took over, mismanaged the economy quite badly.

I look under the skin of countries' economies, and I help them make better decisions and be stronger, to prosper and create employment.

History reminds us that dictators and despots arise during times of severe economic crisis.

I've been surrounded by some of the best economic minds in the country, and hopefully I've absorbed some of that.

I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.

I prospered very quickly. Very quickly, I became politically empowered. I was running my own business.

Your economic and social development is linked to the kind of regime you have.

I was teaching in one of the universities while the country was suffering from a severe famine. People were dying of hunger, and I felt very helpless. As an economist, I had no tool in my tool box to fix that kind of situation.