The US and British economies speeded up slightly in the third quarter, but expansion in several other economies slowed, leaving Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) area growth at 0.5 percent, the OECD said on Monday.
The latest provisional OECD data painted a picture of overall 1.4 percent growth over 12 months, but of faltering recovery stuck at 0.5 percent growth in the last two quarters.
Recovery of the eurozone and wider EU economies slowed down from the second to third quarters, with the French and Italian economies shrinking, the OECD said.
However, compared with output 12 months earlier in the third quarter of last year, “growth for the OECD area accelerated to 1.4 percent compared with 1 percent in the second quarter,” the OECD said.
“Among the major seven (OECD) economies, Japan recorded the highest growth rate (2.6 percent) and Italy the biggest contraction (minus-1.9 percent),” the OECD said.
Growth of the US economy increased by 0.7 percent from 0.6 percent in the second quarter and British growth picked up to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent.
The Bank of England asserted last week that the recovery of the British economy was now firmly in place.
In Japan, expansion slowed sharply in the quarter with activity growing by 0.5 percent, down from 0.9 percent in the second quarter.
Output by the eurozone rose by 0.1 percent, and in the EU by 0.2 percent, down from growth rates of 0.3 percent in the second quarter.
Growth in the eurozone powerhouse Germany slowed sharply to 0.3 percent from 0.7 percent in the second quarter, while the French economy slipped backward, contracting by 0.1 percent having expanded by 0.5 percent in the second quarter.
The data showed that in Italy, activity shrank for the ninth quarter in a row, “but with the pace of contraction slowing to 0.1 percent compared with 0.3 percent in the previous quarter,” the OECD said.
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