Anchor: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) has forecast that the world economy will post modest growth of three percent this year. While describing the global economy as “limping along,” the OECD called for collective action and policies in order to pave the way towards a higher growth path.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has assessed that the world economy is in a state of a prolonged “low-growth trap.”

In its economic outlook report released on Wednesday, the OECD forecast that global gross domestic product(GDP) will post growth of three percent in 2016, unchanged from the year before. It forecast growth of three-point-three percent for 2017.

Speaking at the OECD Forum in Paris, the organization’s Secretary-General Angel Gurría called for fiscal and structural policies to complement monetary policy to break out of the low-growth trap.

[Sound bite: OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría (English)]
“There is now clear evidence about the limits of what monetary stimulus can achieve on its own. Thus, fiscal and structural policies have to be deployed more forcefully to complement monetary policy.”

The Paris-based think tank maintained its growth forecast of two-point-seven percent for South Korea this year, unchanged from a prediction a month earlier.

As factors that make the South Korean economy weak, the OECD cited the country’s high household debt and the continued slump in exports resulting from the global economic downturn. It also stressed the need for South Korea to raise its labor productivity.

The OECD forecast economic growth of one-point-eight percent for the U.S. and six-and-a-half percent for China.

It cited the possibility of China seeing a sharp slump in growth, a Brexit and Europe’s refugee crisis as circumstances that could threaten global growth.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.