Fast-growing economies in the east should spend the vast savings accumulated through trade on their own people rather than use it to accumulate bonds and shares in the west, an influential thinktank said today.
The organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that policies designed to rebalance currencies would fail unless countries adopted more far-reaching and fundamental reforms.
The Paris-based research group, often described as the rich nations' thinktank, said in a webcast that world leaders needed to go beyond discussions about currencies at the G20 summit in South Korea next week and examine conflicts that hold back growth in the world economy.
It said: "Structural reforms, such as the strengthening of social safety nets and the development of financial markets in emerging economies, should be employed to reduce their savings and dependence on financial markets in advanced economies. The OECD sees structural reforms, such as the liberalisation of product markets, also as crucial to recover the output losses associated with the crisis and to help put public finances back on a sustainable path."
The pace of the global economy recovery had slowed since earlier this year, the OECD said, while public debt in most OECD countries was set to reach all-time highs.
"With support from fiscal stimulus fading, output and trade have softened," it said. "Average GDP growth across OECD countries is expected to be between 2.5% to 3% this year, between 2% and 2.5% in 2011 and between 2.5% and 3% in 2012. Activity is projected to vary widely across countries, particularly within the euro area.
"The US is expected to gain considerable momentum in 2012, while the Japanese recovery is expected to lose some steam. In many emerging-market economies growth is continuing robustly, although at a slightly slower pace than earlier in the recovery.
With public deficits and debt at "unsustainable levels", stabilising debt relative to GDP in most countries would require a historical consolidation effort of between 6% to 9% of GDP, said OECD secretary general Angel Gurría. "But in fact even more is needed to bring debt back to sustainable levels."
The OECD, which has promoted free trade as a route to promoting growth and easing poverty, urged the eurozone to cut taxes on employment that could reduced their ability to bring down unemployment over the next few years.
It also backed moves in the west to cut public spending as a way to "strengthen the cost-effectiveness of expenditures that enhance growth, in areas such as health care, education, innovation and infrastructure development".
Gurría said interest rates would remain at historic lows until 2012 and could be maintained at low levels if the world economy continued to struggle over the medium term.
Monetary easing by the US, the UK and Japan will brings its own problems as investors turn away from low-yielding western markets, the OECD warned. "Continued monetary easing in many advanced economies prompts capital flows to emerging economies where they risk creating asset bubbles while putting upward pressure on their exchange rates. The recent unilateral interventions in foreign exchange markets and the resulting volatility could prompt protectionist responses. Better to reach a common understanding on how global imbalances are to be reduced."
The organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that policies designed to rebalance currencies would fail unless countries adopted more far-reaching and fundamental reforms.
The Paris-based research group, often described as the rich nations' thinktank, said in a webcast that world leaders needed to go beyond discussions about currencies at the G20 summit in South Korea next week and examine conflicts that hold back growth in the world economy.
It said: "Structural reforms, such as the strengthening of social safety nets and the development of financial markets in emerging economies, should be employed to reduce their savings and dependence on financial markets in advanced economies. The OECD sees structural reforms, such as the liberalisation of product markets, also as crucial to recover the output losses associated with the crisis and to help put public finances back on a sustainable path."
The pace of the global economy recovery had slowed since earlier this year, the OECD said, while public debt in most OECD countries was set to reach all-time highs.
"With support from fiscal stimulus fading, output and trade have softened," it said. "Average GDP growth across OECD countries is expected to be between 2.5% to 3% this year, between 2% and 2.5% in 2011 and between 2.5% and 3% in 2012. Activity is projected to vary widely across countries, particularly within the euro area.
"The US is expected to gain considerable momentum in 2012, while the Japanese recovery is expected to lose some steam. In many emerging-market economies growth is continuing robustly, although at a slightly slower pace than earlier in the recovery.
With public deficits and debt at "unsustainable levels", stabilising debt relative to GDP in most countries would require a historical consolidation effort of between 6% to 9% of GDP, said OECD secretary general Angel Gurría. "But in fact even more is needed to bring debt back to sustainable levels."
The OECD, which has promoted free trade as a route to promoting growth and easing poverty, urged the eurozone to cut taxes on employment that could reduced their ability to bring down unemployment over the next few years.
It also backed moves in the west to cut public spending as a way to "strengthen the cost-effectiveness of expenditures that enhance growth, in areas such as health care, education, innovation and infrastructure development".
Gurría said interest rates would remain at historic lows until 2012 and could be maintained at low levels if the world economy continued to struggle over the medium term.
Monetary easing by the US, the UK and Japan will brings its own problems as investors turn away from low-yielding western markets, the OECD warned. "Continued monetary easing in many advanced economies prompts capital flows to emerging economies where they risk creating asset bubbles while putting upward pressure on their exchange rates. The recent unilateral interventions in foreign exchange markets and the resulting volatility could prompt protectionist responses. Better to reach a common understanding on how global imbalances are to be reduced."
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