The Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that the global economy will shrink this year, despite continued growth in China. Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Angel Gurria said that OECD countries would post “very negative” growth in 2008 while China’s economy is expected to grow by 6-7%.
“Even the positive growth of India and China is not going be able to offset the negative growth of [developed nations],” he said.
The OECD will release its official global economic growth forecast at the end of this month.
Gurria added that China’s economic stimulus package would most likely have a “quite positive” effect on the country’s economy in 2009-2010.
“I’d like [the stimulus package] to be as successful as successful as possible. We need a few locomotives. Our traditional locomotives are all in the repair shop.”
In response to a question about the recent scuttling of Coca-Cola’s proposed US$2.53 billion acquisition of juice maker Huiyuan, Gurria said the decision by Chinese regulators to block the deal was not driven by ideological principle.
“These types of decisions are constantly being made every day…What the Chinese regulators have done is not something very different from any other regulators in terms of competition,” he said.
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