VIENNA (MNI) – The economic recovery slowed more than expected at
the start of the second half but a double-dip recession remains
unlikely, OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said on Friday.
“A weakening of growth in the second half was in the books. The
question was how weak it was going to be. And I have to say it has been
weaker than we thought,” Gurria told reporters on the sidelines of a
conference organized by the Austrian Finance Ministry.
Nevertheless, he dismissed risks of dropping back into recession.
“What we are seeing is a slowdown of the recovery but still in
positive territory, and our vision is that this is a temporary
weakness…We do not see a double dip,” Gurria said.
“In the short-term the [current] weakness can be dealt with by some
prolongation of some of the monetary accommodation, but if we see there
is a permanence of the weakness, one can defer the entry into fiscal
consolidation,” he said.
The OECD has never expected fiscal consolidation — apart from a
few countries that are facing market pressures — to take off properly
before 2011, Gurria said.
–Frankfurt newsroom, +49-69-720-142; jtreeck@marketnews.com
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