Magazine: Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy: ‘We are in an accelerating time spiral’

– Currently you work as an advisor, but at the same time you are also chairman of the Budapest 2032 Commission and the chief advisor of the president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee. How can you do all these things if you have just 24 hours in a day?

– As a modern pentathlete, I got used to focusing on five things at a time. Sports taught me how to manage my time and what competitiveness really means: you can only reach the goals you work hard for. These things can be very useful in the business world too.

Future Talks with Szilvia Krizsó – every Monday at 7 p.m. Watch and listen to the podcast with Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy any time.

– Talking about the business world: it is a completely different thing to be a member of the board of directors at a large company or the president of the stock exchange, than ‘just’ an advisor. How do you feel about this?

– This is something new for me too. I worked in the multinational bank sector for 30 years, but I reached a point in life where I only wanted to do what I believe in and like.

– Are you a technology expert?

– No, but I know how important technology is and I am happy to learn about digitalisation, which will have a 100-percent impact on the next decades, on our lives. For the first time in history, we don’t know what the world will be like in 20 years time. We are in an accelerating time spiral and many people are scared.

– According to a British analyst firm, China’s economy will overtake the USA by 2028, to become the No.1 in the world. What do you think about this?

– In real value the Chinese GDP might temporarily grow bigger than that of the USA, but China is an overrated phenomenon that will suffer sooner the same fate as the Soviet Union than replace the USA as the world’s economic leader. There is a huge loan bubble and a great export expansion behind China’s development.

– How will the capital markets work in the future and what can you say about the stock exchanges now?

– There is a very intense ‘stock exchange mania’ going on right now and periods like this are always dangerous. The current post-pandemic boom is beyond imagination and investors believe so much in the market that I feel cautious.

–…but we don’t have a clue what the future will bring…

– No, we don’t and there is also the question of inflation. With the reopening consumers now want to spend the money they saved. Manufacturers and service providers simply can’t recruit enough workers to satisfy the demand. In a well-working economy this leads to a price increase – this is what we see now.

– András Simor said the time may come when central banks issue their own cryptocurrencies.

– At the moment I can’t see what role cryptocurrencies play that is different from traditional currencies. Until central banks say cryptocurrencies are the future, this is just a brilliant technological idea to me.

– A committee set up with the purpose of deciding whether Budapest can host the Olympic Games or not. From the host country’s perspective what is the added value of the Olympics?

– Today when sustainability is more and more important, we must redefine how the Olympic Games need to be organised. From now on there will be bidding process, but guided conversations with cities that show long-term interest in hosting the Olympic Games. //

Future Talks with Szilvia Krizsó

Have you ever thought about using a time machine to see the future? If your answer to this question is yes, then listen to Future Talks, Trade Magazin’s Business Podcast. Pulitzer Memorial Award winner journalist Szilvia Krizsó brings the future closer, together with famous and successful businessmen, scientists and experts. The podcast series starts on 19 April 2021 and there will be a new episode every Monday at 17.00.You can find the Future Talks podcast at Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, on Trade magazin’s Facebook page, at trademagazin.hu and futuretalks.hu. //