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OTTAWA — Canada is emerging ahead of the pack as an increasing number of economic bodies around the world are calling on governments to ramp up public spending amid stubbornly weak global economic growth.

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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a report Thursday that more public investment is needed in advanced economies as it becomes clear that monetary policy alone has failed to stoke growth. Many central banks have brought their interest rates down to zero and even attempted to buy long-term bonds in a bid to invigorate their economies.

Those efforts alone now appear set to fail, the OECD said as it downgraded its 2016 global growth outlook by 0.3 points to three per cent, matching last year’s underwhelming growth rate. Canada received one of the sharpest downgrades among developed countries, with growth predicted to average only 1.4 per cent this year, compared with a forecast of two per cent made in November.