PARIS, April 10 - OECD economist Jean-Philippe Cotis said on Thursday the risk of global recession had receded somewhat in recent weeks but that U.S. deficits constituted a major risk for the world economy. "The risk of recession is more remote now than it was a few weeks ago," Cotis, the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, told a press briefing a day after U.S. forces in Iraq took control of central Baghdad. Cotis said there was less risk now from potential surges in world oil prices but that lack of confidence still posed a threat to the economy, albeit less acute that lastingly high oil prices would entail.
Cotis, speaking ahead of meetings this weekend among finance minister from the Group of Seven economic powers, said that while the recovery in the United States remains fragile, growth could still reach around 2.5 percent this year. Growth in Europe remained weak, averaging a rate of about one percent in early 2003, leaving room for a substantial and rapid monetary adjustment.//