World Economy To Sputter Next Year, OECD Warns

The global economy, which has proved surprisingly resilient this year, is expected to falter next year under the strain of wars, still-elevated inflation and continued high interest rates, Paul Wiseman reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated Wednesday that international growth would slow to 2.7% in 2024 from an expected 2.9% pace this year.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated Wednesday that international growth would slow to 2.7% in 2024 from an expected 2.9% pace this year.

That would amount to the slowest calendar-year growth since the pandemic year of 2020. Despite the gloomier outlook, the organization is “projecting that recessions will be avoided almost everywhere,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said at a news conference.

However, he added, there are risks that inflation will stay persistently high and that the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia’s war in Ukraine could affect prices for commodities, such as oil or grain.

A key factor in the slowdown is that the OECD expects the world’s two biggest economies, the US and China, to decelerate next year.

The US economy is forecast to expand just 1.5% in 2024, from 2.4% in 2023, as the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases — 11 of them since March 2022 — continue to restrain growth, Writer Courtney Bonnell also reported for AP.

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