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TagsBY YURI RESETOVS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
U.S. economic growth is predicted to perform better than European nations in the first half of 2012, according to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization based in Paris that promotes policies with the intention of improving world economy.
"There is a recovery which is firming with respect to past numbers. But it is clearly coming at different speeds, with North America and the United States growing faster and the euro area still in a weak spot," OECD chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan told journalists.
Coming in towards the end of the first quarter, the report shows economic growth in the U.S. grew at a 2.9 percent annual rate, as well as a 2.8% rate for the upcoming second quarter. Although growth rates varied dramatically, the overall growth of the Group of Seven nations (G7) is projected at 1.9 percent. The G7 is a collection of the world’s seven leading economies and includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and Canada.
Japan is expected to grow at a 3.4 percent rate for the first quarter and 1.4 percent for the second. Canada is projected at 2.5 percent for each quarter. Germany, France, the U.K. are projected for the slowest growth with Italy having the trailing the rest of the group at -1.6 percent for the first quarter but evening out for the second.
American growth is the result of a resurgence in the stock market, a rebound in consumer confidence and a strengthening job market, reports Aaron Smith for CNN Money. While slower than January, last month’s job growth is amid a strong sign for the economy’s recovery.
Despite growth in North America, Reuters’ Leigh Thomas writes that the Euro Zone is not out of the woods: “OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria called for Euro Zone nations to ramp up the size of their rescue fund, judging that the debt crisis was not over with banks still weak, debt still rising and fiscal targets far from assured… In light of the still shaky nature of the recovery, the OECD said that central banks should be prepared to keep interest rates low and maintain other crisis measures ‘for a considerable time to come’.”
The graph for projected growth, presented by Reuters, is available here.
