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STORY: UN / WORLD ECONOMIC PROSPECTS
TRT: 1.59
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 21 MAY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters exterior
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English), Pingfan Hong, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit for the UNDESA:
“We expected global growth to strengthen in 2014 and 15 at the rates of 2.8 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. These rates are slightly lower than the forecast we made at the end of 2013 partly because the factors that had occurred in early 2014 went beyond our previous projections.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English), Pingfan Hong, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit for the UNDESA:
“The winter in North America was exceptionally colder and longer than usual significantly impeding economic activities in the US. Moreover, the escalation of the political crisis in Ukraine and the associated geopolitical tensions were not in the assumptions of our previous forecast.”
6. Cutaway, graphics
7. SOUNDBITE (English), Pingfan Hong, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit for the UNDESA:
“The financial turbulence in early 2014 related to the US federal reserves tapering of quantities that were using had been to the large extent discounted our previous forecast but the subsequent impact on the gross of a few emerging economies was larger than we anticipated.”
8. Med shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English), Pingfan Hong, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit for the UNDESA:
“Developed countries should mitigate international spill-over when they reduce monetary easing. Developing countries and the economies in transition could combine microeconomic policies with economic reforms to reduce their vulnerability.”
10. Wide shot, press room
The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects have issued today a mid-year update saying that global economy is expected to strengthen over the next two years, despite a downgrade of growth prospects for some developing countries and “stubbornly slow” job growth.
Global growth has been revised slightly lower from the forecasts presented in the 2014 report. Growth of world gross product (WGP) is now projected at 2.8 per cent in 2014 and 3.2 per cent in 2015, up from 2.2 per cent in 2013. However, this pace of expansion is still low compared to the growth path before the 2008 global financial crisis.
Talking to journalists in New York, Pingfan Hong, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) said reasons for lowering forecasted growth were among others, exceptionally long and harsh winter in North America, political turmoil in Ukraine as well as financial turbulence caused by the US federal reserves tapering in early 2014.
The report warns that risks and uncertainties for the world economy include: international spill-overs from ongoing adjustment in monetary policies by developed economies; vulnerabilities of emerging economies; remaining fragilities in the euro area; long-term unsustainable public finance for many developed countries; and geopolitical tensions.
While the report notes that economies of developed countries are likely to grow at 2 per cent this year and 2.4 per cent in 2015 – faster than in the two previous years, but still relatively weak – growth in North America, Japan and Western Europe will be impacted by trade imbalances, high unemployment, and ageing populations.
