Two reasons why the OECD’s chief economist is ‘very, very worried’ about global trade
Faltering trade growth in certain parts of the world amid increasing trade barriers and decline in investments are extremely worrying, the OECD’s chief economist Laurence Boone told CNBC Tuesday.
“I have been, and I continue to be, very very worried about what’s happening on the trade side. Let me just give you two numbers; Two years ago, in 2017, trade growth was 5.5% and today it’s closer to 2%, and in some regions like Europe it’s even close to 0%,” she told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in Paris.
Boone added that trade and exchange are essential for both competition, innovation and employment. “More than a third of the jobs in every single country are actually in firms that export,” she noted.
“The other number I want to highlight is investment,” she said. “Again in 2017 investment was growing at more than 3.5% a year and today it’s growing at less than 1.7% a year and with investment goes jobs. So, we are slowly eroding growth and bringing it down to very low territory,” she said.
On Monday, Boone warned that
uncertainty had been created by several ongoing global situations, including the U.S. China trade spat, U.S. tensions with and sanctions on oil producer Iran and Brexit in Europe. “All these risks are really undermining the growth of today and tomorrow.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/glo...cern-for-the-oecd.html?recirc=taboolainternal
