PARIS, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - India can reach its target of annual economic growth of 10 percent by 2011 if the country concentrates reforms on reducing the role of the state in the economy, an OECD report said on Tuesday.

The Paris-based economic institute urged the government to loosen 'restrictive' labour laws and 'inefficient' regulation of product markets, continue privatisations and simplify the country's tax systems.

PARIS, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Economic growth in the most of the world's principal industrialsed nations is likely to weaken in the months ahead but is expected to pick up in Russia, the OECD predicted Friday.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its composite leading indicators (CLI) index for its 30 members fell 0.6 points in August to 109.6 from 110.2 in July.

PARIS, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Annual inflation in the 30 industrialised members of the OECD fell to 1.8 percent in the year to August from 2.0 percent in July 2006, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.

The consumer price level was down 0.1 percent in August after registering no change in July.

LONDON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The recent financial markets chaos which plagued banking group Northern Rock could put the brakes on Britain's economic growth, the OECD warned Thursday.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in an annual survey on the British economy, also predicted the Bank of England may be forced to slash interest rates to boost growth.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Central banks have done what they had to do by injecting liquidity into financial markets and an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank could be an appropriate move, OECD head Angel Gurria said on Thursday.

The chief of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development defended action by central banks to make massive injections of liquidity into the banking sector after a crisis in the US home loans market.

'I think they did the right thing, they went for stability,' he said.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - OECD head Angel Gurria said Thursday an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank could be an appropriate move, following a half-point reduction by the US Federal Reserve.

'A rate cut may go in the appropriate direction,' Gurria told reporters following publication of a survey on the European Union economy, when asked about whether the ECB should cut rates.

The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed its benchmark interest rate to 4.75 percent in a bid to galvanize the US economy.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - OECD head Angel Gurria spoke out Thursday in favour of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank, following the half-point cut by the US Federal Reserve.

'A rate cut may go in the appropriate direction,' Gurria told reporters following publication of a survey on the European Union economy, when asked about whether the ECB should cut rates.

The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed its benchmark interest rate to 4.75 percent in a bid to galvanize the US economy.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The EU needs greater competition in its energy markets to deliver lower prices to consumers and make energy supplies more secure, the OECD said Thursday in an economic survey of the European Union.

The call echoed proposals made this week by the European Commission for major gas and electricity suppliers to give up their power grids and gas pipelines in the hope of infusing more competition into the sector.

BERLIN, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The positive economic effects of an increasing number of university graduates can trickle down to the less well-qualified, according to a major report on education by the OECD released on Tuesday.

University graduates in all countries earn more money and have better job opportunities than people without university education, the annual study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says.

But job prospects for early school leavers are improved, not hindered, by the expansion of higher education, it concludes.

BERLIN, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Female students are more likely to complete upper secondary education than male students, turning an historical pattern on its head, a major report by the OECD said on Tuesday.

The annual study of education and its economic effects carried out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showed that in terms of graduation from education up to the age of 18, female students trailed behind male students in just three of the organisation's 30 countries -- South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.

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PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The French government stands by its 2007 growth forecast despite OECD projections showing it will not meet the target of 2.25 percent, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Wednesday.

The OECD scaled back its growth projection for France from 2.2 percent to 1.8 percent, the biggest downward revision of all the forecasts for the economies of G7 countries.

PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The OECD lowered its growth forecasts for the US and eurozone economies on Wednesday and warned that world prospects were 'clearly less buoyant' because of financial market instability.

The Paris-based economics body delivered a pessimistic diagnosis as it updated its previous forecasts from May, saying that the full impact of the US housing crisis and related problems in financial markets could not yet be measured.

PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The OECD urged the European Central Bank on Wednesday to 'wait and see' before deciding to raise interest rates, but it suggested the US Federal Reserve had reason to cut borrowing costs.

The ECB is to announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday.

It was widely assumed in early August that the European Central Bank would raise its main lending rate, but recent turmoil on financial markets has cast this into doubt.

PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The OECD lowered on Wednesday its growth projection for the economies of the G7 group of rich countries and said the outlook was 'clearly less buoyant' because of financial market instability.

In updated 2007 forecasts, the Paris-based OECD marked down its growth forecasts for the G7 as a whole, with France, Germany and the United States predicted to be much weaker than previously expected.

KIEV, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Ukraine's leaders were presented on Tuesday with a highly critical report on the state of the country's economy by the Western-led Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Despite the pro-Western orientation of President Viktor Yushchenko's leadership, economic reforms are lagging behind western neighbours such as Poland and the growth of recent years is threatened, said the OECD's 2007 Economic Survey of Ukraine.

In particular a lack of reform is discouraging foreign investment in the ex-Soviet republic, the report said.

JOUY-EN-JOSAS, France, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - The US Federal Reserve would be wrong to cut its main interest rates in response to global financial market turmoil, a senior OECD official said Thursday.

'To cut interest rates in response to a crisis like this would be a mistake in my opinion,' OECD deputy director Adrian Blundell-Wignall told reporters in this town southwest of Paris.

'The Fed should only cut interest rates in response to its basic objectives which are the inflation rate and the health of the US economy,' he added.

PARIS, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - China has made progress in fighting money laundering, but still has a lot to do, The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-corruption body, said on Monday.

'China has made significant progress implementing its anti-money laundering (AML) system. At the same time, it notes that there are still serious deficiencies and very few convictions for money laundering,' the FATF said in a report on China's anti-money laundering measures.

PARIS, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - The Marshall Islands have been removed from a watchlist of 'uncooperative' tax havens after the government of the Pacific nation pledged to improve transparency, the OECD said on Tuesday.

The list, run by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is designed to pressure tax havens into changing harmful practices.

Three European jurisdictions remain on the OECD list, namely Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco.

PARIS, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Annual inflation in the world's principal industrialised countries was stable in June at 2.2 percent compared with May, the OECD reported Tuesday.

Prices in the 30-nation OECD area rose 0.1 percent in June from May after 0.4 percent from April to May.

The Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development said consumer prices for energy were up 2.9 percent in June from the same month last year, compared with an annual 2.7 percent gain in May.

Food prices rose 3.4 percent in June in annual terms, unchanged from May.

PARIS, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - The United States welcomed Monday an international agreement governing government financing of aircraft exports, saying it will 'level the playing field for the US airline industry.'

Members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Brazil signed the agreement on aircraft export credits, the Paris-based OECD announced earlier Monday.

PARIS, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - Brazil has joined OECD members and other industrialised countries in signing a landmark agreement on aircraft export credits, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday.

'The agreement, covering all types of civil aircraft, from jumbo jets to small planes and helicopters, concerns the interest rates, loan guarantees and other conditions applied to export credits for aircraft sales,' a statement said.

PARIS, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - The OECD said Tuesday it had dropped Liberia from its list of uncooperative tax havens after authorities there pledged to improve financial transparency and to exchange information on tax matters.

Four jurisdictions, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and the Marsall Islands, remain on the list, which was published in April 2002.

Since then, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 33 jurisdictions have taken steps to curb harmful tax practices and polices and have been removed from the list.