Source: My Paper, 11/12/8, p.A8
Headline: East Asia will suffer less than other regions
Quote:
WASHINGTON: Mr Vikram Nehru, World Bank's chief economist for East Asia and Pacific Region, warned that downside risks to the region's growth remained, citing the fallout from the global financial crisis. "The situation is changing so rapidly, literally from day to day," he said at a news conference in Tokyo. "Things could very easily get worse than we projected, and the slowdown could last longer." -- AFP, Reuters.
Comment:
What does the word "could" in "could very easily get worse" and "could last longer" mean? It certainly must mean "not impossible", as in "not impossible to get worse" and "not impossible to last longer". It does not mean "impossible to get better". It does not mean "impossible to be shorter". Most important, the word "could" must not be read as "definitely will happen". That is, we must not read "things could very easily get worse" as "things definitely will get worse", or read "the slowdown could last longer" as "the slowdown definitely will last longer".
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