The world's principal industrialised countries should record "moderate" but mixed economic activity in the months ahead, with improved performances in the United States and Britain and a weaker showing in Japan, the OECD reported on Friday.
It said its data for non-OECD member states pointed to an expansion in China, India and Brazil as well as a "slightly weaker" outlook for Russia. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that its latest composite leading indicators index suggests "that continued moderate expansion lies ahead in the OECD area," which groups 29 countries.
The overall indicator rose 0.4 point in April to 109.9 from a revised 109.5 in March. The OECD said its six-month rate of change, which includes an assessment of the long-term growth rate as well as purely cyclical movements, pointed to stronger performances in the United States, Canada, France and Britain and "a downward trend" in Japan, Germany and Italy.
The composite indicator increased by 0.7 point in April in the United States, where the six-month rate of change has been rising since January. In the OECD's 12-nation euro area the index was unchanged in April. The area's six-month rate of change has declined since June 2006.
The April indicator fell by 0.2 point in Japan, where the trend in the six-month rate of change has been downward since March 2006. The indicator jumped a strong 3.0 points in China, according to the OECD, which said the country's six-month rate of change has been stable "at a high level" since February 2007. In Britain the index climbed 0.1 point in April, with a six-month rate of change that increased for the second month in a row.