PARIS, MAY 31, 2010: EVEN as the recovery of the meltdown-bruised
global economy continues to be painfully slow, a ray of hope comes from the
OECD Area. The latest data of the OECD indicates that the GDP in the OECD
Area grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of the new year. This is the
fourth consecutive quarter of growth for the Area.
Strong GDP growth continued in the United States (0.8%)
and Japan (1.2%). GDP growth was more subdued in both the Euro
area and the European Union (0.2%). Italy returned
to positive GDP growth in the first quarter of this year (0.5%), after the
small decline of the previous quarter, while the pace of the recovery eased
in both France and the United Kingdom and
was unchanged in Germany.
Relative to a year earlier, GDP in the OECD area returned
to positive growth (2.5%) after five consecutive quarters of contraction. With
the exception of the United Kingdom (where GDP was 0.2% lower
than a year earlier), GDP was above the level recorded in the previous year
in all other major OECD economies, with a large rebound in the case of Japan (4.2%).
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