BADEN-BADEN: Governments are slacking the pace of needed economic reforms amid waning popular support even as global growth slows, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned Friday.
There had been progress in reducing unemployment, the rich nations’ club conceded in its annual “Going for Growth” report, unveiled at a G-20 gathering of top economies’ finance ministers in the western German spa town of Baden-Baden.
But too many, including women, migrants and young people remain excluded from the benefits of a tentative economic recovery in many advanced and emerging economies, the OECD experts said.
“In many countries what we are seeing is a slow growth track,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told journalists at the G-20 gathering.
“Poor growth outcomes combined with rising inequality, falling trust, stagnant incomes are contributing to a backlash against globalization... which is bringing a rise in populist and protectionist policies,” he continued. “It is precisely because of this context that ambitious reforms are needed, to escape the low growth trap.”
The growing political potency of inequality prompted the OECD to offer for the first time advice to countries on making growth “inclusive,” alongside its long-standing productivity and employment goals.
Reforms had visibly slowed, both in countries that had made significant progress in recent years — such as Mexico, Ireland and Spain — and others like Colombia, Italy and Sweden, already among the “least active” reformers, the economists found.
While more countries had moved to lift barriers to women working and cut taxes on lower-paid workers, many focused on one area to the exclusion of complementary ones, they said.
Looking ahead, the OECD recommends improving productivity by broadening access to education, training and jobs, freeing up competition, and increasing investment in public infrastructure.
Meanwhile, social safety nets should be used to reduce income inequality, the experts advised.
“Growing inequality becomes an obstacle to growth,” said OECD chief. “It is not just morally wrong, it is ethically wrong, it is politically very explosive, but it is also economically very inefficient.”
Gurria, a former finance minister of Mexico, insisted that gatherings like the G-20 remain relevant even as the new White House administration under Donald Trump challenges a tried-and-tested multilateral global order.
Inequality stokes populism: OECD chief
Inequality stokes populism: OECD chief
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
