Fundamental reforms have helped put the Portuguese economy back on the right track, but a durable recovery will require additional measures to improve export competitiveness, create jobs and ensure social protection for those most in need, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Portugal.

While the outlook for many OECD countries remains subdued, Emerging Asia is set for healthy growth over the medium term. Annual GDP growth for the ASEAN -10, China and India is forecast to average 6.5% over 2015-19. Growth momentum remains robust in the 10 ASEAN countries, with economic growth averaging 5.6% over 2015-19.

The OECD does not see deflation taking hold in the euro area, but the risk has risen.

The Indian economy is showing signs of a turnaround, but new reforms are needed to put the country on a path to strong, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of India.

Meeting Greece’s Minister of Development and Competitiveness Mr. Kostas Skrekas today, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría said the Greek government’s reform programme was already showing positive results.

As environmental pressures continue to rise, governments throughout the OECD area have not been sitting back. If anything, the stringency of their policy measures has been increasing on the whole, not least to combat pollution and climate change. And as the evidence shows, stringent environmental policies can be introduced without hurting overall productivity.

Norway has taken some good initiatives to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, but needs to establish overarching policies and strategies, and address significant weaknesses in a number of key areas, according to a new report by the Financial Action Task Force.

The Colombian economy has done remarkably well over the last decade, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing countries in Latin America, but a comprehensive tax reform that promotes investment and diversifies the economy is now needed to put the country on a path toward stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Colombia.

The underlying strengths of the Estonian economy have helped it bounce back from the crisis, but some challenges remain to finding a steeper, more inclusive and more sustainable growth path, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Estonia.

The Belgian economy has returned to growth and continues scoring well on broader measures of well-being, but further reforms will be needed to secure fiscal sustainability while promoting employment and competitiveness, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Belgium 2015.

Determined and systemic action to implement a comprehensive reform agenda across a wide range of policy areas offers governments the best chance to boost weak demand, restore healthy economic growth, create jobs and ensure that the gains are broadly shared across society, according to the OECD’s latest Going for Growth report.

Changes to Italy’s political and institutional systems are crucial to ensuring the success of ambitious reforms currently underway to boost economic growth and raise living standards, according to a new OECD report.

The Latvian economy is among the fastest-growing in the euro area, but continued reforms will promote a rapid and sustainable pace of convergence with upper-income countries while limiting the risk of repeated boom-and-bust cycles, according to the OECD Economic Survey of Latvia.

After three decades of extraordinary economic development, China is shifting to a slower and more sustainable growth path. Further reforms are now needed to ensure that future growth is resilient, inclusive and green, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of China.

The Indonesian economy has enjoyed strong and stable growth over the past decade and a half, leading to impressive reductions in poverty and major improvements in living standards. But challenges remain to continue to converge towards higher-income countries, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Indonesia.

France has begun implementing a series of important pro-growth structural policy measures, but boosting medium-term growth will require more ambitious action to reform the labour market, curb high levels of public spending and taxation and create jobs, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of France.

Structural reforms and income distribution

This paper shows that household-level economic instability is only very loosely related to macroeconomic volatility. However, the analysis also uncovers that moving to highly competitive policies generally reduces micro-level instability.

Housing conditions in Belgium are among the best in OECD countries according to the Better Life Index, as dwellings are of high quality and large, and housing costs are average.

Economic reforms have helped Slovenia recover from the crisis, but further action is needed to strengthen the banking and corporate sectors, stabilise debt and create jobs, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Slovenia.

Urbanisation will continue in China, with the government planning to grant urban residential status to an additional 100 million rural workers by 2020. For those who remain in rural areas, improved social welfare systems and investment in health services are critical.

This paper reviews different explanations for apparent underinvestment in energy efficiency that have been put forward in the literature. It also provides new evidence regarding barriers to investment in energy efficiency based on the OECD Survey on Household Environmental Behaviour and Attitudes.

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America. The high level of informality in the labour market and many characteristics of the pension system leave many elderly in poverty. Only formal-sector employees earning more than the relatively high minimum wage are covered.

The New Zealand economy has performed well in recent years, but bottlenecks in housing and urban infrastructure, inequalities in living standards and rising environmental pressures all pose challenges for sustaining robust growth and high levels of well-being over the long term, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of New Zealand.

Since 1995 when OECD began conducting Economic Surveys of the Russian Federation many policy recommendations relating to structural reform and framework conditions have been made.

A strong commitment to reform and a business-friendly environment have helped Ireland return to robust economic expansion, offering the government an opportunity to heal the scars of the crisis, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Ireland.

This survey highlights the key results of the empirical literature concerning the costs of flexibility-enhancing reforms in product and labour markets.

A well-functioning labour market is indispensable to promote job creation, increase living standards, and develop a cohesive society. In Italy, the various deficiencies of the labour market have resulted in high unemployment, low labour force participation and job-skill mismatch.

The determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) are explored with gravity models, using a Poisson estimator and a linear estimator, both with fixed effects.

Finland enjoys a high level of income and well-being, but the economy has weakened and new reforms will be necessary to restart growth, boost productivity increase employment and restore competitiveness, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Finland.

Costa Rica has made impressive economic, social and environmental progress, but further institutional and policy reforms will be necessary to ensure stronger and more inclusive growth, according to the first-ever OECD Economic Assessment of Costa Rica.

Lithuania has made remarkable economic and social progress, but further policy reforms will be necessary to ensure a more productive and inclusive economy, according to the first-ever OECD Economic Assessment of Lithuania.

The Hungarian economy has expanded strongly in recent years, helped by robust exports and firm domestic demand. But incomes are among the lowest in the OECD and structural reforms will be needed to sustain growth over the medium term, strengthen business investment and better match skills to labour market needs, according to a new OECD report.

Denmark’s economic prospects are improving, but further reforms are needed to maintain the country’s high living standards and ensure the well-being of all citizens, according to a new report from the OECD.

Korea needs to boost productivity, increase employment and stoke economic activity as part of efforts to reverse current trends toward slower growth and low inflation, according to a new report from the OECD.

Inequality measures in Lithuania (like in Estonia and Latvia) are high. To an important extent this is related to the high risk of poverty for non-working individuals and to the low rewards to work. Therefore, increasing the quality of jobs, ensuring that the most vulnerable have access to employment and providing adequate income support for those that have lost their job are key for making labour markets and the economy more inclusive.

The pace of structural reforms is slowing just when the world economy needs decisive policy actions to strengthen fundamentals and restore healthy growth (the 2016 Going for Growth report). Policy makers may be concerned that introducing structural reforms in the current context involve trade-offs between the mid- to long-run gains in employment and productivity and short-run losses.

This paper takes stock of the main structural reforms that Greece has undertaken since 2010, those currently proposed and that are in the process of implementation, and quantifies the medium and long‑term effects on output.

The Czech Republic needs new reforms to boost productivity, improve economic growth and accelerate convergence toward the levels of income and well-being seen in the most advanced European countries, according to a new OECD report.

The Greek economy is turning around lately, but it remains in a deep depression. GDP has fallen by more than a quarter between 2007 and 2015, unemployment remains extremely high at 25 percent and anchored poverty – which measures poverty relative to its pre-crisis income level – has nearly tripled between 2007 and 2014, reaching a third of the population.

The US economy is making one of the strongest comebacks in the OECD, but there are risks on the horizon, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of the United States.

In 2015 the Lithuanian government launched an ambitious Social Model reform agenda aimed at balancing flexibility of the labour market and security provided through the system of social protection.

This paper analyses the effects of product market reforms in the short and medium term across 10 regulated industries and 18 advanced economies for the period 1998-2013 using internationally comparable firm-level data based on Orbis.

Turkey’s economy has proven remarkably resilient in the face of a challenging global economic context. However, further action can be taken to raise productivity and advance the shift to a more balanced, sustainable and stronger growth path that will boost living standards for the entire population, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Turkey.

Costa Rica’s economic, social and environmental achievements are impressive. It has succeeded in combining rising living standards, virtually universal health care, pension and primary education systems with sustainable use of natural resources.

In 2015 the Lithuanian government launched an ambitious Social Model reform agenda aimed at balancing flexibility of the labour market and security provided through the system of social protection.

This paper analyses the effects of product market reforms in the short and medium term across 10 regulated industries and 18 advanced economies for the period 1998-2013 using internationally comparable firm-level data based on Orbis.

In the past two decades, the income level in Lithuania has steadily risen toward that of OECD countries. Between 1995 and 2013, GDP per capita rose from one third to two thirds of the OECD average. Productivity catch-up was critical to this process, aided by enhanced integration into the global economy which enabled the adoption of more advanced production technologies from abroad.

Yesterday’s OECD Interim Economic Outlook warns that trade growth is slowing, contributing to another slowing of global GDP growth in 2016 and with few signs of improvement for 2017.

Given the secular decline in productivity growth and the persistent weakness of the economic recovery in many advanced economies, increased attention is being paid to the potential role of structural reforms for restoring economic growth.