UN slashes world growth forecasts

The United Nations on Wednesday slashed its global growth predictions to 2.4 per cent for 2013 and 3.2 per cent for the following year and warned of a lasting employment crisis for Western countries. Europe is trapped in a ‘vicious cycle’ of debt, austerity, low growth and high unemployment, said the UN.

Growth remains ‘meagre’ in the US — 1.7 per cent predicted for 2013 — while Japan is caught in ‘deflationary conditions’ and its 2013 growth is predicted at 0.6 per cent.