Private consumption is main driver of OECD GDP growth in the third quarter of 2015
Real GDP growth in the OECD area slowed slighlty to 0.5 % in the third quarter of 2015, compared with 0.6 % in the previous quarter. Private consumption was again the main driver of overall growth with a contribution of 0.4 percentage point, followed by investment and government consumption contributing 0.1 percentage point each. Contribution from net exports was negligible while destocking reduced GDP growth by 0.1 percentage point
Among the Major Seven economies, developments were more diverse.
In Canada, GDP growth turned positive (0.6 %), mainly as a result of positive contributions from net exports (1.0 percentage point), but negative contributions from destocking, investment and government consumption moderated the impact. In the United States, the positive contributions from private consumption (0.5 percentage point) and investment (0.2 percentage point) were the main drivers of overall GDP growth (0.5 %). These positive contributions were partially counterbalanced by the negative contributions of destocking and net exports (minus 0.2 and minus 0.1 respectively).
In the United Kingdom on the other hand, stockbuilding contributed 0.7 percentage point to overall GDP growth (0.4 %), followed by private consumption (0.5 percentage point). With minus 1.0 percentage point, net exports contributed negatively to economic growth in a quite significant way.
In Germany, private consumption was the main contributor to GDP growth (0.3 %), with 0.3 percentage point, followed by government consumption and stockbuilding (0.2 percentage point each). As in the United Kingdom, net exports decreased GDP growth, by 0.4 percentage point.
In France, stockbuilding was the main driver of overall GDP growth (0.3%) with 0.7 point percentage, with private and government consumption providing minor positive contributions. Net exports reduced GDP growth, by 0.7 percentage point.
In Italy, GDP grew by 0.2%, with positive contributions mainly coming from private consumption and government consumption (0.3 and 0.2, respectively), while net exports had a negative contribution (minus 0.4 percentage point).
In Japan, GDP growth became positive (0.3%), with minor positive contributions of all expenditure categories, except destocking which slightly dragged down growth by 0.2 percentage point.