OECD GDP Growth Slows To 0.3% In The First Quarter Of 2021

Following the unprecedented falls and subsequent rebounds in 2020, growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area slowed to 0.3% in the first quarter of 2021, down from 1.0% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates. This slowdown is partly related to the strengthening of COVID-19 containment measures in some countries in early 2021.

For the Major Seven economies as a whole, GDP growth slowed to 0.4% in the first quarter of 2021 (from 0.9% in the previous quarter), with quite divergent patterns across countries.

In Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan, GDP fell sharply, contracting by (minus) 1.7%, (minus) 1.5% and (minus) 1.3%, respectively, compared with growth of 0.5%, 1.3% and 2.8% in the previous quarter. In Italy, GDP continued to contract, but to a lesser extent (minus 0.4% compared with minus 1.8% in the previous quarter).

GDP growth remained positive in Canada and the United States (1.6% in the both countries), after 2.3% and 1.1, respectively, in the previous quarter. GDP growth turned positive in France (0.4%) after a fall of (minus) 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In the euro area and the European Union, GDP continued to contract in the first quarter of 2021, by (minus) 0.6% and (minus) 0.4%, respectively, after (minus) 0.7% and (minus) 0.5% in the previous quarter.

When comparing economic activity in the first quarter of 2021 with pre-pandemic levels (Q4-2019), GDP still lagged behind for the OECD area as a whole (minus 2.6%). Among the Major Seven economies, the United Kingdom experienced the largest fall (minus 8.7%) and the United States the smallest (minus 0.9%).

Visit the interactive OECD Data Portal to explore this data further

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