OECD Upgrades Global GDP Forecast

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development raised its global economic forecast for 2020 as output picked up swiftly following the easing of confinement measures and the initial re-opening of businesses.

According to the interim economic outlook report, released Wednesday, the global economy will shrink 4.5 percent this year instead of 6 percent fall estimated in June. Meanwhile, the growth projection for 2021 was revised down to 5 percent from 5.2 percent.

The Paris-based agency noted that without the prompt and effective policy support introduced in all economies, the contraction in output would have been substantially larger.

However, the agency cautioned that the outlook is subject to considerable uncertainty and projections are dependent on assumptions about the spread of the Covid-19 virus and policy developments.

The US GDP was forecast to fall 3.8 percent, which was revised sharply from -7.3 percent projected for 2020. The growth outlook for next year was lowered to 4 percent from 4.1 percent.

At the same time, China's GDP is expected to grow 1.8 percent versus previous forecast of -2.6 percent. In 2021, growth outlook was lifted to 8 percent from 6.8 percent.