Another large independent organization has followed the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in a downgrade of global growth this year. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its forecast for worldwide improvement in gross domestic product (GDP) to 3.0% from 3.1% in 2015 compared to its June forecast. Its estimate for 2016 dropped from 3.8% to 3.6%. The BRICs are the primary cause, particularly China and Brazil. The ongoing economic problems and Japan will not recover enough to offset BRIC problems. And the United States continues to be the engine of the global economy.

According to the authors of the report, the largest countries of the old British Empire will do well:

The OECD projects that the US will grow by 2.4 percent this year and by 2.6 percent in 2016, while the UK is projected to grow at 2.4 percent in 2015 and 2.3 per cent in 2016. Canadian growth is projected at 1.1 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2016….

Also:

The euro area is projected to grow at a 1.6 percent rate in 2015 and a 1.9 percent pace in 2016. Growth prospects differ widely among the major euro area economies. Germany is forecast to grow by 1.6 percent in 2015 and 2 percent in 2016, France by 1 percent in 2015 and 1.4 percent in 2016, while Italy will see a 0.7 percent rate in 2015 and 1.3 percent in 2016.

The most disappointing:

China is expected to grow by 6.7 percent in 2015 and 6.5 percent in 2016. India will grow by 7.2 percent in 2015 and 7.3 percent in 2016. Brazil’s economy is expected to shrink by 2.8 percent in 2015 and then by an additional 0.7 percent rate in 2016.

Also:

A key puzzle in the short-term outlook centres on China, where recorded growth has held up well, but some indicators point to a slower underlying pace of economic activity. The marked slowdown in Chinese import demand has important spillover effects on global growth, particularly in emerging economies with close trade links to China, and those that depend on commodities. India is expected to be the fastest-growing major economy over the coming two years, while the outlook is weaker for many commodity-exporting nations, with Brazil experiencing a deep recession.

Only a few years ago, the BRICs were supposed to be the economies that drove the world’s economy forward as the United States lagged behind. Those forecasts were terribly wrong/

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