Amid gloomy discussions,WEF has a lighter side too

When the moderator asked Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit to answer another question addressed to him instead,the top banker quipped they should first listen about the oil price forecast.

While the public erupted in a bout of laughter,the moderator also quipped he would rather avoid the question as he was not sure if it could amount to horse-trading. At the end of the day,the question remained unanswered.

At another press conference by PwC to release its annual CEO survey,which painted a gloomy picture about the confidence of business heads in economic growth,the PwC International chairman was asked whether the survey was outdated by two weeks,as the mood seems to have changed after the new year,even though the survey of over 1,200 CEOs was conducted in the latter part of December,2011.

The PwC Chairman rejected the outdated charge and said the mood has indeed remained pessimistic and this has been confirmed in these two weeks by the CEOs of many companies being served by the consultancy and auditing major.