May 20, 2016

Growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area was unchanged, at 0.4%, in the first quarter of 2016, but with diverging growth patterns across major economies, according to provisional estimates.

In the United Kingdom and the United States, growth decelerated to 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively in the first quarter, compared with 0.6% and 0.3% in the previous quarter.

Growth remained volatile in Japan with GDP rebounding strongly (up 0.4%) following the contraction of 0.4% in the previous quarter.

In Germany and France, growth accelerated to 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively in the first quarter, compared with 0.3% in both countries in the previous quarter. Growth also picked up marginally in Italy, to 0.3% compared with 0.2% in the previous quarter.

In the European Union and the euro area GDP growth also picked up, to 0.5%, compared with 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively in the previous quarter.

Year-on-year GDP growth for the OECD area slowed to 1.8% in the first quarter of 2016, down from 2.0% in the previous quarter. Among the Major Seven economies, the United Kingdom (2.1%) and the United States (1.9%) continued to record the highest annual growth rates, while growth was nil in Japan.