Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced that low growth rates in developed countries and high growth rates in the emerging world have resulted in a shift in the income categorization of countries. The organization classified mid-income countries, including China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey, as high income countries, which were not classified as high income in 1995 but have since experienced a high, sustained growth trend.
According to the report, a country is said to have experienced a period of high, sustained growth based on four conditions between 1980 and 2011. These conditions include a period of rapid growth, more than 3.5 percent per annum for at least six years and accelerated growth. Moreover, post-growth output must exceed the output prior to the period of rapid growth to prevent a growth acceleration episode followed by a collapse of an economy and according to these conditions, growth must be sustained, which requires a growth rate of at least 2 percent during the 10 years following the episode of rapid, accelerated growth. The first decade of the 21st century bore witness to a huge recession in rich countries after the 2008 financial crisis, the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Daily Sabah
