The economy will grow by 0.9% in 2017 and 1% in 2018. Despite stronger job gains, private consumption growth has weakened following rising uncertainty and declining consumer confidence. The large stock of non-performing loans and the uncertain recovery keep hampering banks’ loan disbursements, hindering the recovery of investment. Low growth in Italy’s export markets and geopolitical tensions are restraining exports. 

The BLI is an interactive online platform that offers important insights into how people perceive their own well-being and quality of life. 

Climate change is a pressing challenge, requiring leadership and determined action. At the same time, people are concerned that policies do not put them at an economic disadvantage or unnecessarily undermine their welfare.

Can governments balance these concerns? The OECD’s Environment Policy Committee meets at ministerial level on 28-29 April 2008 under the theme of global competitiveness. Some non-OECD developing countries will also participate, as will stakeholders from business, labour and civil society.

Ministers responsible for employment from around the world gathered at the OECD on 28-29 September to discuss the jobs crisis. In our eighth OECD Observer ministers' roundtable, we ask six representatives, from Canada (co-Chair), Italy (co-Chair), Sweden (vice-Chair), France, New Zealand, and Chile, which is a candidate for OECD accession: What new policy actions are you taking to improve the jobs situation in your country?

“A beacon for globalisation” is how Secretary-General Angel Gurría described the role of the OECD in his address to the Foreign Relations Commission in Rome on 22 February. In this, his first official visit to Italy since becoming secretary-general in 2006, Mr Gurría met with President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Romano Prodi (on the right in photo), as well as other officials in Rome and Milan. He addressed the Foreign Relations Commission and spoke at a dinner hosted by the Italian minister of foreign affairs. With globalisation and the necessity for reforms as the focus of his talks, Mr Gurría emphasised that “globalisation has not been an inclusive process. We have to produce the instruments to make it so”.