The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced that its member countries registered a contraction of 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012, after the previous quarter's 0.3 per cent growth.

The OECD noted that this is the first contraction since the sharp drop of 2.3% registered in the first quarter of 2009.

The contraction was particularly marked in the European Union, where gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 0.5%.

In Germany, GDP fell by 0.6%, the first GDP contraction since early 2009. In the UK and France, GDP decreased by 0.3%, against positive growth rates in the previous quarter (0.9% and 0.1%, respectively).

In Italy, GDP contracted for the sixth consecutive quarter, showing the largest contraction (minus 0.9%) since the first quarter of 2009.

In Japan, GDP decreased by 0.1%, significantly less than in the previous quarter when Japan recorded the highest slowdown among the "Major Seven countries".

In the US, GDP growth strongly decelerated from 0.8% in the third quarter to roughly 0.0% in the fourth quarter.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, GDP growth for the OECD area slowed to 0.7%, down from 1.2% in the third quarter. Among the "Major Seven economies", the United States recorded the highest growth rate (1.5%) and Italy the largest contraction (minus 2.7%).

Nevertheless, for 2012 as a whole, GDP expanded by 1.3% in the OECD area, compared with 1.9% in 2011.

JM

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