Real GDP in the OECD area grew by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2011. Although private consumption remained the main driver of growth in the OECD as a whole, its contribution to growth fell in nearly all major economies. At 0.2 percentage point, private consumption’s contribution to OECD growth fell to its lowest level since the second quarter of 2009. The fall in the contribution from private consumption was offset by a large swing in the contribution from inventories.

Contributions to OECD real GDP growth


In the United States, private consumption and stockbuilding were the major contributors to GDP growth (0.4 and 0.3 percentage point, respectively), partially offset by negative contributions from investment and government consumption. In Germany, robust GDP growth of 1.5% was driven by investment; which contributed 0.9 percentage point, and net exports, which contributed 0.5 percentage point. In Canada, investment and stockbuilding were the main contributors to GDP growth, but with a sharp fall in the contribution of private consumption when compared to the previous quarter. In France, real GDP growth was mainly driven by stockbuilding. In Italy, net exports were the main contributor to GDP growth, but with a significant offset through destocking. In the United Kingdom, net exports made a significant contribution (1.4 percentage point) to GDP growth, but with offsets coming from private consumption, investment and destocking.

In the wake of the natural disaster of March 2011, GDP continued to contract in Japan, with only government consumption making a positive contribution to GDP growth.