Quotes of the day

VIENNA (Reuters) - The following are selected quotes from speakers at the Reuters Central European Investment Summit.

CHRISTOPH ROSENBERG, REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, IMF

"(These countries) have done very well with the market turmoil until recently. We do think the countries have not used fiscal policies appropriately. Some have really poured oil on the fire with their fiscal policies."

WOLFGANG RUTTENSTORFER, CEO, OMV

"We haven't expected $88 (per barrel oil prices), (and this will) definitely have a positive impact (on the company's earnings). We rather expect crude prices should come down over time."

KARL PETRIKOVICS, CEO, IMMOEAST

"Shopping behavior of the people is different. Because there were not many opportunities for shopping in communism, shopping is now more part of the leisure activity. Shopping centers also have a different position because of a lack of high street stores. It's more of a U.S. attitude."

THIERRY BAUDON, MANAGING PARTNER, MID EUROPA PARTNERS

"Overall, I think this region has a lot going for it. The only problem it has is it's small. It's very fragmented, very poorly understood by the market. At the end of the day it's 70 percent of German GDP, 100 million (people), 15 countries, at least as many languages, and it's not on anybody's radar screen unless you're dedicated to it.

"But it makes it more difficult for competitors to come in, and that's why they all rushed first to Poland because they thought: 'Hey, here are 40 million guys, that much I can probably understand.'"

LASZLO URBAN, CFO, OTP BANK

"There are small regional banks in Russia, mostly family owned, who finance themselves from bonds on the market, who are under pressure and finding it a problem to finance. This is an opportunity for us either in the form of purchasing assets from them or in the form of actually acquiring them."

LUDOVIT ODOR, BOARD MEMBER, SLOVAK CENTRAL BANK

"I would say at this moment I do not see some huge need to tighten very much the monetary policy conditions because I think that they are close to some optimal level at this stage."

PATRICK BUTLER, CEO, RAIFFEISEN INTERNATIONAL

"We remain intrinsically interested in that market (Kazakhstan), although one has to recognize that it is a large country with a small population, so one would not want to overpay. There is a much more sober assessment of real value in Kazakhstan now."

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)