The world faces a "dangerous" cocktail of low growth and high unemployment, OECD chief Angel Gurria said Tuesday, after the global body warned of weak prospects for major economies.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in its latest global overview, said this month leading indicators for the 34-nation body point to "weakening growth in coming quarters" for most major economies.
"You have a problem of high unemployment especially among the youth -- growing inequalities and low growth -- and in some cases contracting growth," Gurria said at an OECD conference in New Delhi on measuring global well-being.
"Like the James Bond cocktail -- when you shake together and do not stir -- you have a very, very dangerous combination," he told a news conference.
Some 50 million people are unemployed in OECD countries -- 15 million more than in 2008, Gurria said.
"Five years on [after the onset of the global financial crisis], it is still ongoing," said Gurria, secretary-general of the Paris-based organization that groups the world's leading industrialized democracies.
Unemployment in Greece is at a record 25.1% as its economy contracts, while in Spain the jobless rate is 24.6% as the government implements austerity measures to fend off a sovereign bailout.
The gap between rich and poor is now at its widest in 30 years with governments facing a loss of confidence in their ability to deal with boosting growth, tackling debt and making the financial sector more stable, Gurria said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012
