AS per OECD provisional estimates, the real GDP
in the OECD area increased by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, compared
with 0.5% in the previous quarter. Investment
and private consumption made the largest contributions to OECD growth of
0.3 and 0.5 percentage point, respectively.
For 2016 as a whole, OECD annual GDP grew by 1.8%, mainly driven by private
consumption (which contributed 1.4 percentage point) and to a lesser extent
by government consumption and investment (each contributing 0.3 percentage
point). Net exports and destocking dragged annual OECD growth down by minus
0.1 percentage point each.
Drivers
of GDP growth varied across the Major Seven economies.
In the United Kingdom, GDP increased by 0.7% (up from 0.5%). Significant
destocking in the fourth quarter (which contributed minus 1.6 percentage point,
compared with 1.2 percentage point in the previous quarter) was more than offset
by a strong rebound in foreign trade (1.7 percentage point, up from minus 1.4).
Private consumption added another 0.4 percentage point.
In Canada, GDP growth slowed to 0.6% (down from 0.9% in the previous quarter),
mainly reflecting destocking (which contributed minus 0.7 percentage point,
compared with 0.4 in the previous quarter). The contribution from investment
also decreased significantly (minus 0.3 percentage point, down from 0.0). These
negative contributions were partially offset by a strong improvement in net
exports and increased government consumption (1.3 and 0.1 percentage point
respectively, up from 0.3 and minus 0.1).
In the United States, GDP growth slowed to 0.5%, compared with 0.9% in the
previous quarter, mainly reflecting a reduced contribution from net exports
(minus 0.5 percentage point, down from 0.2 in the previous quarter) and also,
albeit more moderately, from government consumption. These effects were partially
offset by positive contributions from private consumption, stockbuilding and
investment.
In Germany, GDP growth picked-up to 0.4% (up from 0.1% in the previous quarter),
driven by higher private consumption, government consumption and investment
(0.2 percentage point each, from 0.1, 0.0 and 0.0 respectively). These positive
contributions were slightly offset by net exports (minus 0.4 percentage point,
from minus 0.3).
GDP increased by 0.4 % in France (up from 0.2% in the previous quarter), mainly
reflecting a rebound in the foreign trade balance (0.1 percentage point from
minus 0.6) and increased contributions from private consumption and investment
(0.3 and 0.1 percentage point respectively, from 0.0 each). These positive
contributions were partially offset by destocking (minus 0.2, from 0.7).
In Japan, GDP growth was stable (at 0.3%). Lower contributions from net exports
(0.2 percentage point, compared with 0.4 in the previous quarter) and private
consumption (0.0 percentage point compared with 0.2) were offset by increased
contributions from investment and government consumption.
In Italy, the slight deceleration of GDP growth (0.2%, compared with 0.3% in
the previous quarter) reflected destocking and slowing private consumption
while government consumption and net exports made positive contributions(0.1
and 0.0 percentage point respectively, from 0.0 and minus
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