Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Recession seems to be looming


 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is adding its opinion to a growing concern that global recession may arrive by next year. 

 

The OECD sharply trimmed its forecasts for this year to a growth of three per cent and for next year to 2.8 per cent.

 

The war in the Ukraine and inflation are cited as the main reasons for revising the outlook downward.

 

The forecast for Canada is a growth of 3.8 per cent this year and 2.6 next year, down from 4.5 per cent last year.

 

For the United States, whose economy has a huge impact on Canada, the forecast for this year is 2.5 per cent and next year 1.2 per cent compared with 5.7 percent last year.

 

Inflation is highest for fuel and food. Supply-chain bottlenecks are also partly to blame and these cost and price increases are likely to persist for some time, the report said. Nor is the COVID-19 pandemic over.

 

 

“The outlook is sobering, and the world is already paying the price for Russia’s aggression,” said chief economist Laurence Boone. 

 

“The choices made by policymakers and citizens will be crucial to determining how high that price will be and how the burden will be shared. 

"Famine is not a price the world should pay,” he said.