Global growth to remain sluggish next year: UN report

Global economic growth is expected to remain sluggish in the coming year and would not be sufficient to pull countries out the unemployment crisis many are facing, the UN said in a report yesterday.

It added, under policies now in place it may be at least five years before the recovery from job losses in Europe and the US in the 2008-2009 recession.

A worsening of the euro area crisis, the 'fiscal cliff' in the United States and a hard landing in China could cause a new global recession, according to Rob Vos, head of the UN Development Policy and Analysis Division. Each of these risks could lead to global output losses of between 1 and 3 per cent, he added.

US president Barack Obama, a Democrat is working with the Republicans to keep away tax hikes as also deep spending cuts that are expected to be triggered next month. The ''fiscal cliff'', as this is called could trigger off another recession

The global economy is expected to grow at 2.2 per cent in 2012, 2.4 per cent in 2013 and 3.2 per cent in 2014, the United Nations said in a report titled "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013."

Reporting a "sharp slowdown" of world trade, the UN has attributed the decelerating global trade growth to "a declining import demand" in Europe and "anaemic aggregate demand" in the US and Japan.