OECD: EMs and the eurozone hit
The OECD Economic Outlook, published on Tuesday, has rung a few alarm bells for developed economies, as the FT reports.
But what about emerging economies? What’s the impact on them from the eurozone “negative feedback loop”, as the organisation puts it? Continue reading »
S Korea: long slog to a tricky future
On the face of it South Korea’s unemployment levels should be the envy of the world, with figures published on Tuesday showing the jobless rate falling last month to just 3.1 per cent. Compare that to an average of 8 per cent in the OECD, the rich economies’ club, and 24 per cent in crisis-torn Spain, a country with a similar population and income per head on a spending power basis.
But in fact Korea’s workers and job seekers face much bigger difficulties than these numbers suggest. It would be a brave unemployed Spaniard who swapped places with a Korean. Continue reading »
World Bank to China: shop more
Just as China looks to be refuelling the investment engine, a word of warning comes from the World Bank: China’s traditional fallback plan of infrastructure-based growth is not the answer to a sliding economy. Much better to get people spending.
The World Bank also trimmed its 2012 growth forecast for China to 8.2 per cent, in line with yesterday’s update from the OECD. Continue reading »
OECD to Poland: we believe you
A bit of a vindication for Poland’s Jacek Rostowski from the OECD on Wednesday. The rich nations club is one of the first international institutions to back the finance minister’s plan to drive the budget deficit to 2.9 per cent of GDP this year.
Rostowski’s numbers had been called into question by analysts and even by the European Commission, which felt that the fiscal squeeze aimed at bringing the deficit down from 7.9 per cent in 2010 was too ambitious. Continue reading »
OECD to Orban: sort your house out
The OECD published a 150-page report on Hungary on Tuesday, part wish-list, part gripe. The country must take “swift action” to stabilise its economy and put growth on a sound footing.
This on the same day that the EU suspended some of Hungary’s infrastructure subsidies unless the deficit isn’t cut by June 22. But will the Orbán government take heed? Continue reading »
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