By Richard Johnstone | 5 July 2013

Government spending across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries was flat in the first three months of 2013 and made no contribution to growth, a survey of economic output has found.

Real gross domestic product across the nations rose by 0.4% in the quarter, compared with no increase in the last three months of 2012.

Private consumption was the main contributor to growth across 34 member states, making up 0.3 percentage points of the rise, the OECD said. Net exports contributed 0.1 percentage points, while ‘the contribution of government consumption was negligible’, the report stated.

On a country-by-country basis, public sector output fell by 0.1% in the US and was flat in most countries, including Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. It rose by 0.1% in Canada, France and Japan.

The freeze in government spending in first three months of 2013 followed a 0.1% fall in public sector output in the last quarter of 2012 across the group. Overall, government output across member countries increased by only 0.2% in 2012 and 0.3% in 2011.