Hosted by the OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, top officials Christine Lagarde from the International Monetary Fund, Jim Yong Kim from the World Bank Group, Roberto Azevêdo from the World Trade Organization and Guy Ryder from the International Labour Organisation met with the President. The French Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy and Employment and the Secretary of State for Trade also be attended the meeting.
At a news conference ahead of the meeting, Mr Gurría spoke about the need for France to push ahead with its reform plans. He said “productivity gains have been modest since the mid-1990s and competitiveness has declined. The structural reforms underway, which have the strong support of the OECD, are indispensable.”
Quoting a new OECD study, Mr. Gurría said that “full implementation of the reform programme could boost potential annual economic growth by one third, or 0.4 percentage point annually over ten years.”
President Hollande said the OECD’s estimates were “an encouragement for France to push ahead with its reforms.” Noting that France’s planned reforms were in the spirit of the OECD’s 2012 report on French competitiveness, he said “this is above all about creating economic activity” and said France intended “to move quickly in implementing these reforms”. “It’s the long-term results that will give credibility to these reforms.”
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said the world had not yet understood the potential risk to the global economy of the Ebola crisis. “We have still not yet got our heads around the global solidarity needed to solve this problem.”
Useful links
France: Les réformes structurelles : impact sur la croissance et options pour l’avenir
OECD Economic Surveys: European Union 2014
Main Economic Indicators: France 2014
© OECD Observer 2014
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