2019.11.2111:23:00UTC+00Global Economy To Grow Least Since Financial Crisis: OECD

Weighed down by trade conflict, weak business investment and political uncertainty, the global economy is set to expand at the slowest pace since the financial crisis this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, said Thursday.

World GDP growth is forecast to be 2.9 percent in 2019, its lowest annual rate since the financial crisis, and remain at 2.9 percent to 3.0 percent in 2020 and 2021. The global economy had expanded 3.5 percent in 2018, the Paris-based organization said.

The projections for the global economy for both 2019 and 2020 were left unrevised.

The OECD called for bold action to address both high levels of uncertainty facing businesses and the fundamental changes taking place in the global economy.

OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone said, "It would be a mistake to consider these changes as temporary factors that can be addressed with monetary or fiscal policy: they are structural."

The agency noted that short-term prospects of the countries vary with the importance of trade for each economy.

GDP growth in the United States is expected to slow to 2 percent in 2020 and 2021 from an estimated 2.3 percent in 2019.

According to the think tank, the Chinese economy is structurally changing, rebalancing away from exports and manufacturing, towards more consumption and services. China's growth is forecast to edge down to 5.5 percent by 2021 from 6.2 percent this year.

The euro area is forecast to expand 1.2 percent this year, 1.1 percent in 2020 and again 1.2 percent in 2021. The OECD projected the UK economic growth at 1.2 percent in 2019, 1 percent next year and 1.2 percent in 2021.

The current stabilization at low levels of economic growth, inflation and interest rates does not warrant policy complacency, OECD's Boone said.