Preliminary figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showed today that growth in its 30 member countries narrowly avoided stagnating in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter.
The organisation said that growth was up only 0.1% in the second quarter over the previous quarter - the lowest quarterly figure since 1995. The OECD also estimated that growth in the second quarter rose 1.2% from the same period in the previous year, according to the organisation's first estimates.
The OECD said that economic growth in the US ground to a halt in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. However, it said that US growth compared with that in the second quarter in 2000 remained positive, although annual growth slowed to 1.2% in the second quarter from 2.5% in the previous quarter.
The organisation's second-quarter growth estimates come after concern has been mounting that the US economy could slip into a recession, pulling down other major economies with it, in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in the US.
US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill remained upbeat nonethless about the prospects for a speedy recovery in the US next year, saying on Monday that growth could reach 3.2% growth next year.
The Paris-based organisation said that Japanese gross domestic product growth fell in the second quarter of 2001 by 0.8% and was 0.7% lower than the second quarter in 2000. In the 12-nation euro zone, GDP growth in the second quarter slowed to 0.1% in comparison with the previous quarter, when growth slowed 0.5%.
Euro-area growth slowed in the second quarter to 1.7% in comparison with the same period last year after growth of 2.4% in the first quarter. Both second-quarter quarterly and annual growth figures for 15 European Union countries were the same as those for the euro zone.
Last week after the attacks in the US, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Pedro Solbes said that growth in the European Union economy this year would slow to close to 2% as a result of the terrorist attacks in the US. He did not offer a more specific figure.
Among the seven biggest economies in the group, France showed one of the highest growth rates in the second quarter at 2.3% and Japan, with 0.7%, the lowest rate in comparison with the same period last year.
