40% of world wealth gone

Davos: The past five quarters have seen 40 per cent of the world's wealth destroyed and business leaders expect the global economic crisis will get worse, said Steve Schwarzman, chairman of private equity giant Blackstone.

Schwarzman said an "almost incomprehensible" amount of cash had evaporated since the financial crisis took hold. "Business will be very different," he added.

His comments came on a day of the World Economic Forum characterised by the gloom of its participants and warnings that the crisis will endure for some time.

News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch kicked off the meetings by warning that the atmosphere was worsening - despite global economic confidence plumbing the lowest depths on record.

"The crisis is getting worse," he said. "It's going to take drastic action to turn it around, if it can be turned around quickly. I believe it will take a long time."

Executives participating in an economic brainstorming se ssion said that despite the trauma caused by the economic and financial problems, another crisis at some point was inevitable.

Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics and a former Bank of England policymaker said: "The outlook is pretty grim. Things are not good and business surveys are coming out showing they're getting even worse."