OECD: Growth of real GDP in G20 area eased slightly to 0.9% in Q1 of 2018

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has recently published its report titled 'G20 GDP Growth - First quarter of 2018.' Below are some key takeaways.

• Growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area eased slightly to 0.9% in the first quarter of 2018, from 1.0% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates. 
• GDP contracted by 0.5% in South Africa and by 0.2% in Japan.
• Growth slowed significantly in France (to 0.2%, from 0.7%) and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom (to 0.1%, from 0.4%) and Germany (to 0.3%, from 0.6%).
• On the other hand, GDP growth rebounded in Korea, to 1.0%, in the first quarter of 2018, following a 0.2% contraction in the previous quarter.
• It also picked up significantly in Australia (to 1.0%, from 0.5%), and marginally in Turkey (to 2.0%, from 1.7%), Mexico (to 1.1%, from 0.9%), Brazil (to 0.4%, from 0.2%) and India (to 1.9%, from 1.8%). 
• Year-on-year GDP growth for the G20 area slowed marginally to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2018 (from 4.0% in the previous quarter) with India recording the highest growth (7.4%) and Japan the lowest (1.1%).