The OECD called Thursday on the world's leading countries to step up measures to support
flagging global growth, in particular urging the ECB to overcome its reluctance and undertake
quantitative easing. It made the appeal in an early update to its global economic forecasts before
G20 leaders hold a summit next week in Australia.
Noting that risks to the global economy remain high and market volatility may rise, OECD chief
Angel Gurria warned of an increasing risk of stagnation in the eurozone that would further
darken already gloomy global economic skies. "Countries must employ all monetary, fiscal and
structural reform policies at their disposal to address these risks and support growth," he said.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which provides economic
analysis and advice to its industrialised country members, lowered its forecast for global growth
this year by a tenth of a percentage point to 3.3 percent. For 2015 it cut the forecast by two tenths
of a point to 3.7 percent growth. It left in place its forecast for the 18-nation eurozone to grow by
0.8 percent this year and by 1.1 percent in 2015. The OECD's chief economist Catherine Mann
warned that "overall, the euro area is grinding to a standstill and poses a major risk to world
growth..." The organisation urged the European Central Bank to expand its monetary stimulus
programme given the very weak economy and the risk of deflation.
No comments:
Post a Comment