OECD area's growth rate falls to 0.5% in Q2

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) region's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate narrowed to 0.5% month-on-month in the second quarter of the current year, it announced on Monday.

The real GDP growth rate was 0.6% in the first quarter of 2019, the OECD data showed.

The EU and eurozone also posted declines in the same period, dropping 0.2% from 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Among major seven economies -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. -- the U.K. and Germany were the worst performers with negative 0.2% and negative 0.1% growth rates.

Meanwhile, the annual GDP growth for the area also posted a decline, decreasing to 1.6% versus 1.7% in the previous quarter.

"Among the Major Seven economies, the U.S. recorded the highest annual growth (2.3%), while Italy recorded the lowest annual growth (0.0%)," the OECD said.