Amusing as the above diversion was for the financial press, far more concerning is the ambiguity over regulatory capital requirements in the medium term.

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This will support increase in capital expenditure costs over the medium-term.

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The key issue in Malaysia is whether controls will help or hinder the restoration of sound medium-term growth and more normal access to international capital markets.

CNN: REFORM IS CRUCIAL

Ensuring that investors are able to achieve an adequate return on capital through export in the near-to-medium term represents the most promising path to achieving much greater volumes and, in so doing, maximizing domestic supply over the long term.

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There is plenty of venture capital for ideas that promise returns in the short or medium term, but longer-term research and development depends heavily on governments.

ECONOMIST: Crazy-talking boffins

" In the medium to long term, says Bhaskaran, "once the Chinese start returning with their capital and expertise, Indonesia will be in a steadier growth phase.

CNN: HARD WORK AHEAD

Having said that, what is also true is that unless businesses and global capital markets have some sense that we've got a plan, medium and long term, to get the deficit down, it's hard for us to be credible, and that also could be counterproductive.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Closes Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth

While European governments are so preoccupied with what outsiders see as obscure and even largely irrelevant issues, there seems little hope that they will get to grips with the structural reforms freer labour and capital markets that economists believe are essential if European growth performance is to improve over the medium term.

ECONOMIST: Must do better | The