According to a June 2022 press release from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in the first quarter of 2022, gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area rose by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter according to provisional estimates, down from the 1.3% increase recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The slowdown in the G20 area in Q1 2022 reflects weaker performance in the United States, where GDP contracted by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter after rising by 1.7% in Q4 2021. This was due to changes in net trade (exports minus imports) and decreases in inventory investment (destocking) and in government spending on COVID-19 assistance.
In Australia and Indonesia, growth slowed by more than 2 percentage points between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. Growth slowed to a lesser extent in Canada, China, India, Italy, Korea, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, while in France and Japan there were GDP contractions of 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.
Despite the trend for the G20 area, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the European Union recorded stronger growth in Q1 2022 than in Q4 2021. Growth in Saudi Arabia (2.6%) was the highest among G20 economies, driven by a marked increase in oil activities. In the OECD area, GDP growth is now estimated at 0.3% in Q1 2022.
The United Kingdom and South Africa exceeded their pre-pandemic (Q4 2019) level of GDP for the first time in Q1 2022, by 0.7% and 0.5% respectively, while Italy reached its pre-pandemic (Q4 2019) level of GDP for the first time. Among the G20 economies, GDP in Germany, Japan and Mexico remained below pre-pandemic levels (by 0.9%, 0.6% and 2.1% respectively) in Q1 2022 (Figure 2).
* Italy recorded zero cumulative growth between Q4 2019 and Q1 2022.
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