GDP Growth - Fourth quarter 2015, OECD | WPN World People News

Growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area slowed markedly to 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 0.5% and 0.6% in the previous quarters, according to provisional estimates.

In the United States, economic growth slowed to 0.2% in the fourth quarter, compared with 0.5% in the third quarter. Growth decelerated marginally (by 0.1 percentage point) in France (to 0.2%) and in Italy (to 0.1%).

In Japan, GDP contracted by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, offsetting the rebound in the third quarter (0.3%) that followed the contraction (of 0.3%) in the second quarter.

GDP growth was stable at 0.3% in Germany, while it picked up marginally to 0.5% in the United Kingdom.

In the European Union, GDP growth slowed progressively over the year (to 0.3% in the fourth quarter, down from 0.4%, 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively, in the third, second and first quarters), while growth remained stable at 0.3% in the euro area.

Year-on-year GDP growth for the OECD area slowed to 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 2.1% in the previous quarter. Among the Major Seven economies, the United Kingdom (1.9%) and the United States (1.8%) continued to record the highest annual growth rates, although both down from a rate of 2.1% in the previous quarter. Japan recorded the lowest annual growth rate, 0.7% compared with 1.6% in the previous quarter.

For 2015 as a whole, GDP rose by 2.0% in the OECD area, up from 1.8% in 2014.

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development