A deal averting the risk of default in the United States this week does not offer a real solution to problems posed by US disputes over debt, the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Friday. Global markets were on tenterhooks earlier this month awaiting the outcome of a standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress over funding for President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law known as Obamacare.
The last minute accord on Wednesday staved off the threat of potential default, but only funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another bitter budget fight early next year. "We're all going to have a very difficult December, a very difficult January, and a difficult February," Jose Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, told reporters in Panama City.
"Because there were really no solutions...there was no far-reaching decision," said Gurria, an ex-Mexican finance minister. Frank de Lima, the finance minister of Panama, which uses the US dollar, said he agreed with Gurria, and that Congress had only succeeded in "kick(ing) the can forward."
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