The Zhitong Finance App learned that Blackstone Group (BX.US) President Jon Gray warned that fiscal pressure in France, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe poses a more urgent risk than the US; the US supports economic growth through investment in technology.
Gray said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday. “America will have to face difficult choices, but I think this is more like a challenge for France, the UK, and mainland Europe.” “The reason is that the growth rate there is much lower,” and at the same time, there is also a “very huge deficit.”
Grey's remarks come as major developed economies are struggling to cope with surging debt burdens and high interest rates. He said that financial crises can often only be resolved when forced by market pressure, using Greek debt restructuring more than 10 years ago as an example.
“The government, which now has a deficit of more than 100% of GDP, can't seem to find a path that can reverse this curve,” Gray said. “This creates affordability challenges, particularly in the housing sector, and also means making tough trade-offs in taxes and social services.”
Gray said that as of now, the US is temporarily putting the rising debt problem under water through faster growth driven by the artificial intelligence boom.
“When you look at this technology, these investments, and what's happening with AI, you see that it's bringing in significant capital inflows, while higher growth rates give you a little more room,” he said.
Gray believes that technology is the most decisive force and potential threat of our time. He said that in contrast, the ongoing local conflict and the tense relationship between the US and its allies are quite manageable.
“Technology is probably the biggest existential risk, but it evolves slowly and will force people to make very difficult choices,” he said during a panel discussion. Also on the same stage were Tata Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran and former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In response to this shift, Gray said Blackstone remains committed to investing in energy and digital infrastructure.
“Kuroishi will continue to do a lot more electricity because everything we talked about about technology, data centers, autonomous vehicles, robots, all uses electricity,” he said.
The company will also maintain a high level of exposure to the defense sector. Gray said that defense spending has become an almost universal priority for governments, and almost all countries are investing more in their own resilience.
Life science is an area where Kuroishi will “continue to double its bets.” He said AI's contribution will improve human health, although risk topics dominate current discussions.
“We are all rightly concerned about the risks of this technology, but its benefits to human health will be the primary outcome,” Gray said, adding that significant clinical trials are still needed to achieve these benefits.
Investments in India
Regarding India, Gray said his company plans to invest more capital due to India's young and large population, high English popularity, large number of engineering and technical graduates, and government support for growth.
He said India “will grow faster than any other major economy in the world” over the next century.
Gray said last month that India is the highest source of Blackstone private equity returns in the world. Previously, the company had switched to obtaining majority or equal control, and focused on fields such as information technology services, commercial real estate, and local manufacturing.
Blackstone has rapidly expanded its investment in AI and is seeing a return. Gray told investors last month that 9 of Blackstone's 10 largest investors this year are from the AI sector. However, Aster DM Quality Care Ltd., an Indian hospital investment company, has also broken through the global AI boom, underscoring Blackstone's firm belief that the country still has significant room for growth.
Over the past year, Blackstone has invested in Indian AI cloud startup Neysa, India's Cricket Premier League team Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Federal Bank Ltd.