OECD cuts global growth forecasts

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has cut its own global growth forecasts for this year and 2014 by almost half a percentage point.

The OECD points the finger at a slowdown in emerging markets and the US debt ceiling chaos.

Secretary General of the OECD Angel Gurria said:“The numbers now for world growth for 2013 is 2.7 percent and this is as low as it has been since the big crisis of 2009. Now we expect these rates to go back to four percent, which is where they have been for sometime in 2015, but 2013 will actually be a low growth year.”

The agency said the UK economy would grow by 1.4 percent this year that is below Bank of England estimates and above the 1 percent growth for the euro zone predicted for next year. The OECD described the eurozone banking system as a “major drag” on growth in the area.

The OECD said the establishment of a banking union needed to be speeded up while any weakness in banks balance sheets had to be identified by forthcoming stress tests and the ECB’s asset quality review.