OECD sees G20 measures topping 2% global growth target

[BRISBANE] The OECD said on Friday the plans of G20 nations to boost the world economy could beat their target of adding 2 percentage points to global growth by 2018, though geopolitical risks such as Ukraine and Ebola were mounting.

Angel Gurria, the secretary-general of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that the more than 1,000 measures proposed since February would exceed the target, over the next five years, if implemented. "Yes, if you take all the commitments and you assume they are going to execute impeccably, then ... it could take us beyond the 2 per cent," Gurria told Reuters in Brisbane ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit.

In September, Joe Hockey, Treasurer of G20 host Australia, said the total had reached 1.8 per cent.

The OECD and International Monetary Fund are responsible for measuring and monitoring the national growth strategies that will be unveiled at the conclusion of the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane on Sunday. "We have run out of monetary policy room, we have run out of fiscal policy room. What is left is structural reform and this is a structural reform agenda as big as it gets." The biggest risk to the global economy was an absence of reforms but other issues were mounting, he said. "You now have some threats, geopolitical, the problems in Russia-Ukraine, the Middle East and now this Ebola is threatening...this is adding to already rather uncertain situation that we have." The OECD and G20 are both pushing to crack down on tax evasion, a key objective for the Leaders summit.

Finance ministers and tax chiefs from 51 countries last month signed an agreement to automatically swap tax information in an effort to crack down on tax evasion via secret bank accounts.

Garria said that while much had been done to tackle tax evasion by individuals, more progress was needed on corporate tax dodging. "What about the multinationals? They're not paying taxes because they are using the legal structures we've created over 80 years to avoid double taxation and we have created perfect double non-taxation. We need to reverse that."

REUTERS