The world’s major economies are all showing stable or accelerating growth CREDIT: LEE JIN-MAN/AP
Every major economy is growing at a stable or accelerating pace in the latest sign that the world economy is on the mend.
Germany and Canada are picking up pace, while the rest of the G7 countries are growing at a stable pace, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.
Its leading indicators, which predict future growth, also show Brazil and Russia’s economies picking up pace while China and India grow at a stable rate – meaning the BRIC nations are joining the global recovery.
Analysts at the OECD look at measures including business orders, corporate confidence and stock market moves to try to anticipate moves in the economy in the coming six to nine months.
Late last year the composite leading indicators (CLIs) for all of the biggest economies became stable or positive, before losing some ground around the start of 2017 – the indicator wobbled in India, for example.
But now all of those economies are showing strong numbers.
The group of 35 OECD countries overall are showing stable growth with an index score of 100.1, while the eurozone is at 100.4, the five major Asian economies at 99.5 and the G7 at 100.1.
Those index scores are all based on a long-term average score of 100.
Britain’s index score currently stands at 99.7. It has been rising steadily since mid-2016 and is currently at its highest level since late 2015.
The UK economy slowed in the first quarter of the year as GDP grew by 0.3pc, down from 0.7pc in the final quarter of 2016.
Rising inflation is putting pressure on household spending, but companies are still hiring workers and businesses – particularly exporters – are confident, so economists expect growth to pick up over the rest of the year.
The global recovery should help this happen as growth abroad should boost demand for British goods.
Some of the smaller economies monitored by the OECD are slowing signs of slowing momentum, however, including Greece, Mexico and Portugal.
[“Source-telegraph”]
