India leads global growth in OECD report
June 7, 2017, 5:36 pm

BRICS is home to 43% of the world’s population [Xinhua]

In its latest economic outlook published on Wednesday, the organization of 35 countries said that global economic growth in 2017 and 2018 was expected to pick up pace but was still not sufficient to “sustain strong gains in standards”.

It said that major – in particular European and North American – economies need to do more to escape the low growth trap.

“Deeper, sustained and collective commitment to coherent policy packages that support inclusiveness and productivity growth are urgently needed. We need a more inclusive, rules-based globalisation that works for all, centred on people’s well-being,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria in a press release accompanying the economic report.

According to the OECD report, two BRICS countries – China and India – lead the world in terms of economic growth.

In 2017, India’s GDP growth is expected to hit 7.3 per cent and 7.7 per cent the following year, slightly better lift than figures released by the Statistics Office last week, but largely in tandem with a World Bank report on robust growth in the country.

China’s GDP growth is expected to be 6.6 per cent in 2017, within the government’s growth bracket, but fall to 6.4 per cent in 2018.

Brazil, which has for two years been in recession, is expected to emerge in positive territory in 2017 reaching 1.6 per cent GDP growth in 2018.

Russia will also turn the corner reaching 1.5 per cent growth in 2017 and 2 per cent in 2018.

Meanwhile, GDP growth in the eurozone will reach 1.8 per cent in 2017 and 2018, while in the US growth is forecast at 2.1 and 2.4 per cent respectively.

However, the OECD warns that major economies cannot afford to be complacent.

“Better choices on fiscal, structural and international policies will improve the well-being of a country’s own citizens, but also spill over to improve the outcome for others, raising the probability that the current cyclical upturn will endure and become the foundation for sustained and broad-based improvements in living standards around the world,” it said in its press release.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies