Any potential recession will be ‘light,’ Qatar Investment Authority CEO says

Any potential recession will be ‘light,’ Qatar Investment Authority CEO says

The CEO of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund believes that if the world sees a recession, it will be "light." Rising fears of a looming recession pushed U.S. stocks briefly into a bear market on Friday, as Covid-19 related shutdowns in China, rising interest rates and a cost of living crisis impact investor sentiment. "The sell-off that we see (is) embedded in all of the bad scenarios that we are talking about. So we're talking about recession, inflation and geopolitical issues," Qatar Investment Authority CEO Mansoor Al Mahmoud told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at Davos. The QIA, which manages $450 billion in assets, is ranked as the world's ninth-largest sovereign wealth fund, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Al Mahmoud said that he is "less pessimistic" despite the global economy's current situation as it recovers from the pandemic. "We are in better shape in terms of the banking sector that has a good balance sheet, we have good liquidity," the CEO added. "I'm not saying that we will not have a slowdown, I'm not saying that we might not have a recession, but if we have a recession, it will be a light recession." Qatar aiding Europe's energy transition As Germany