BADEN BADEN, Germany, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Friday called on countries to consider inclusiveness as the prime object when deploying economic reform policies.
In the newly-released annual report titled Going for Growth 2017, OECD said governments in most countries now need reforms to escape the low-growth trap and prepare for coming technological changes. However, they must pay better attention to addressing the concerns of those who bear the costs of the reform agenda.
The report suggested governments should concentrate reform efforts around packages of policy measures designed to "simultaneously target economic and social objects."
It was the first time OECD underlined inclusiveness, alongside productivity and employment as the principal drivers of average income growth, since it began to publish such annual analytical review in 2005.
"Putting inclusiveness at the heart of the policy equation is the only appropriate response to the growing political headwinds that have slowed down reform," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said.
He elaborated that inclusiveness encompasses dimensions such as inequality and poverty, job quantity and job quality, along with labor market inclusion of vulnerable groups, gender gaps and equity in education, and health outcomes.
"The vast array of growth and inclusiveness challenges facing advanced and emerging economies call out for a quicker pace and more comprehensive set of reforms," Gurria said.
Gurria made the remarks on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) meeting for finance ministers and central bankers in Germany's spa city of Baden Baden, noting that implementing OECD's reform recommendations would help to achieve the G20 objectives for stronger and more inclusive growth.
