Advanced economies recovering, Europe in recession, Italy bringing up the rear. This is the picture that emerges from the data on economic growth published today by the OECD. In the first quarter, the overall GDP of the OECD area recorded a recovery of 0,4% compared to the previous three months, while on an annual basis the trend remained at +0,8%.
For the euro area as a whole, the OECD calculates a -0,2% of GDP compared to the previous three months, and for the entire European Union of 27 a -0,1%. In this context, our country once again recorded the worst performance among the large countries: -0,5% from the previous three months and -2,3% on an annual basis. However, this data shows slight improvements compared to the -0,9% cyclical and -2,8% annually estimated at the end of 2012.
However, the first quarter also formalized the relapse into recession in France, which with -0,2% suffered the second consecutive quarterly contraction of GDP, while the annual trend worsened slightly to -0,4%. In Germany there was a slight +0,1% from the previous three months and a -0,3% per year.
The United States, on the other hand, accelerated: +0,6% of GDP on a cyclical basis and +1,8% on an annual basis. However, the best performance was that of Japan, which in recent months has carried out heavy devaluations of the yen, while the Central Bank has strengthened its interventions to support growth. The Japanese GDP recorded +0,9% from the previous three months, while in the annual comparison the growth was nil.
