Quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the G20 slowed in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Wednesday.
The Paris-based OECD says that quarterly GDP grew by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, compared with 0.6% in the third quarter, according to preliminary estimates.
Moreover, it notes that the aggregate G20 growth rate continues to mask diverging patterns across the world’s largest economies.
Canada, the United States and Japan all recorded broadly stable, or positive, growth rates in the fourth quarter, it says, whereas all of the major European countries (Italy, Germany, France and the UK) saw GDP contract — ranging from a 0.9% drop in Italy to a 0.3% decline in France and the United Kingdom.
Among the remaining G20 economies, India, Mexico, Korea, Brazil and South Africa recorded higher growth in the fourth quarter, the OECD says, and growth remained stable in Australia, Indonesia and China.
For 2012 overall, GDP grew by 2.8% in the G20, the OECD notes, down from 3.8% in 2011.