By Nick Mann | 13 September 2012
Economic growth in the Group of 20 leading nations slowed to 0.6% in the second quarter of 2012, according to figures published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development today.
This represents the third consecutive quarter of slowing growth in the G20 area, coming after the 0.7% increase in the first three months of 2012 and 0.8% in the final quarter of 2011.
Within the overall figures, however, are significant regional differences. In China, growth accelerated from 1.6% in the first quarter to 1.8%, while Turkey’s economic performance improved from a 0.1% contraction in the first three months of the year to 1.8% growth.
Growth slowed significantly in Australia – down from a 1.4% expansion in the first quarter to 0.6% in the second – and in Japan – down from 1.3% in the first quarter to 0.2%.
The overall performance of the G20 was hampered by its European members. Italy’s economy shrank by 0.8% - its fourth consecutive quarter of contraction, while the UK economy contracted by 0.5%, its third consecutive quarter of negative growth.
Both the eurozone and European Union economies as a whole also shrank in the second quarter, by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
Further signs of the impact of the global economic slowdown on individual countries came from the Swiss National Bank, which today blamed the ‘unfavourable international environment’ for its decision to downgrade its 2012 growth forecast for Switzerland from 1.5% to 1%.
‘The global economy remains vulnerable,’ the Bank said in a statement. ‘Growth prospects are being dampened by the euro area crisis, on the one hand, and the uncertainty surrounding forthcoming fiscal policy decisions in the US, on the other.’
However, there was more positive news for the eurozone with the results of yesterday’s Dutch general election, where pro-European parties came first and second. Prime minister Mark Rutte’s liberal VVD party won 41 seats in the 150-seat Dutch lower house while the Labour party, the PvdA, won 39 seats. The two parties are now expected to form a coalition government, with the anti-EU Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, finishing joint third with the socialists with 15 seats.
