OECD chief Gurria says world recovery failing to pick up in 2016

[PARIS] The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development chief Angel Gurria says the global economic recovery won't pick up this year and will improve only slightly in 2017 as trade fails to revive.

The world economy will expand 3 per cent in 2016, the same pace as last year, and will only improve "a little" next year, Mr Gurria said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Paris.

"Overall a rather mediocre, a rather dismal outlook," the OECD secretary-general said. "Trade is growing at 2 to 3 per cent; it should be growing at 7."

The remarks underline the lacklustre growth as many emerging markets struggle with a slump in commodity prices and rich economies such as Europe and the US fail to return to the sort of performance they typically had before the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Paris-based OECD releases its semi-annual Economic Outlook at 10:30 Paris time Wednesday.

Mr Gurria warned UK voters that opting to leave the European Union in a referendum June 23 will penalise the country economically, wiping the rough equivalent of a month's wages off potential incomes, according to OECD calculations.

Brexit is "a threat, but mostly it's a threat to the well-being of the UK," Mr Gurria said. "It's like a tax" but one "for which you get nothing in return."

BLOOMBERG