GDP is on the rise in the OECD area, with Italy still lagging behind the G7 countries. According to the latest updates from the OECD, member countries grew by an average of 0.5% in the second quarter of 2024, thus maintaining the pace of the previous three months.
On the other hand, the G7 is accelerating, rising from +0.2% in the first quarter to +0.5% in the second, but Italy is struggling to keep up: the peninsula’s GDP growth in the second quarter of the year stops at +0.2%, slowing down compared to +0.3% in the first quarter. A balance that places Italy in the penultimate place among the G7 countries in terms of GDP growth in the second quarter of the year. Only Germany is doing worse, falling below zero.
The German GDP contraction, which fell from +0.2% in Q1 to -0.1% in Q2, was driven by a decline in gross fixed investment in machinery and equipment, as well as a decline in the construction sector. Instead, the US GDP growth rate is picking up, driven by private consumption, to +0.7%, up from +0.4% in Q1. There was also a slight acceleration in Canada (from 0.4% to 0.5%), while France’s pace remained stable at +0.3%. Japan, on the other hand, outperforms all other G7 countries in Q2 2024, recovering to +0.8% from -0.6% in Q1.
Thanks to the increase in private consumption. However, comparing data from year to year, the Japanese economy is the one that suffered the most serious decline among the G7 countries: -0.8% between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024. Instead, the United States is the one in the group. Among the G7 that grew the most in the past 12 months.
Overall, among the OECD countries for which data are available, more than half of the economies are slowing down in the second quarter of 2024. Israel is the most prominent, falling from 4.1% in the first quarter of the year to zero, 3%. Chile and Colombia are also declining, but still in positive territory, while Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Korea are all below zero. But the good news is for Poland, Costa Rica, Ireland and the Netherlands, which have performed the best in the OECD area.
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