The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday sharply upgraded its growth forecast for Britain in 2013 and 2014, while revising down global economic growth estimates by a big margin.
In its latest Economic Outlook report, the OECD said the British economy would grow by 1.4 percent this year and 2.4 percent in 2014. The organization had earlier expected growth rates of 0.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively in the previous report in June.
The OECD said economic activity in Britain had picked up and broadened, supported by a turnaround in private sector confidence, continued monetary stimulus, a policy-induced recovery in the housing market and a more gradual pace of household and public sector deleveraging as automatic stabilizers operate.
“Growth is projected to strengthen further in 2014 and 2015, mainly supported by an upturn in gross fixed investment and exports,” the report said, “Despite exceeding the inflation target of 2 percent, headline inflation is projected to fall gradually in the next two years.”
The OECD figures were, nevertheless, still lower than British central bank’s predictions made last week which forecast 1.6-percent and 2.8-percent growth for 2013 and 2014.
The British economy grew by 0.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013, and recent economic surveys have indicated that growth remained strong in October.
Meanwhile, the OECD downgraded the global GDP growth from the previous estimate of 3.1 percent to 2.7 percent for this year, predicting stronger growth ahead but also more risks.
Xinhua