OECD Indicators: Economic Activity May Be Slowing in Some Nations May 13, 2010

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The pace of economic activity may be showing signs of slowing down, according to OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) report for March 2010.

In most OECD countries signs of slowing growth are called "tentative," with stronger signals appearing in France and Italy, and even evidence of a potential halt in expansion in China and Brazil.

The CLI for the OECD area increased by 0.6 point in March 2010. The CLIs for the United States and Japan increased by 0.8 and 0.9 point respectively, while the Euro area leading indicator increased by 0.5 point.

The CLI for Brazil and China decreased by 0.3 point in March 2010. The CLIs for India and Russia recorded moderate increases.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines growth cycle phases of the CLI as follows:
• expansion (increase above 100)
• downturn (decrease above 100)
• slowdown (decrease below 100)
• recovery (increase below 100).

OECD-Total includes these 29 countries:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Korea
• Luxembourg
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovak Republic
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States

G7 area includes:

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• United Kingdom
• United States

The Euro area (only Euro area countries that are members of OECD) includes:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Italy
• Ireland
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Portugal
• Slovak Republic
• Spain

The Major Five Asia area includes:

• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Korea

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