The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has announced that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the OECD area in the fourth quarter last year slowed to 0.2 percent, down from 0.5 percent recorded in the previous quarter, while the year-on-year GDP growth figure in the fourth quarter slowed to 1.8 percent, down from 2.1 percent in the previous quarter. In 2015, GDP rose by two percent, up from 1.8 percent in 2014.
Compared with the same period of 2014, in the fourth quarter last year the largest increase in GDP growth in the OECD area was recorded in the UK at 1.9 percent, followed by the United States with a 1.8 percent growth rate, while Japan recorded the lowest annual growth rate at 0.7 percent.
Compared with the previous quarter, in the fourth quarter the UK saw its GDP growth rate increase to 0.5 percent, while the United States saw its GDP growth rate decrease to 0.2 percent. In Germany, GDP growth was stable at 0.3 percent compared to the third quarter. Japan’s GDP growth fell to -0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, while France’s GDP growth decreased to 0.2 percent, compared to 0.3 percent in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, in the EU-28 region GDP growth fell to 0.3 percent, while GDP growth in the euro area was stable at 0.3 percent, both compared to the third quarter.