OECD says there's light at end of the tunnel

PARIS/FRANKFURT: Prospects for economic recovery next year have improved for the first time in two years, the OECD said yesterday, while the ECB lent banks at the heart of the crisis a record 442 billion euros.

The slowdown is close to bottom, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said, and its 30-member countries area should return to modest growth of 0.7 percent next year, a big reversal from a 4.1 percent fall this year, and up from a previous forecast of a contraction of 0.1 percent.

"This is the first time since 2007 that we have revised up the projection," OECD Chief Economist Jorgen Elmeskov told Reuters after the release of the OECD's economic outlook.