Rich economies recovering, emerging ones slowing

Advanced economies are on the move again but growth in big emerging economies looks like stabilising or slowing down, the OECD said on Monday. The data for the United States and Japan "continue to point to economic growth firming", the OECD said in its monthly report of leading indicators or signs of how economies will perform. Activity is also looking up in the eurozone although the outlook for France, the second-biggest eurozone economy after Germany, is "relatively stable." And it said that the outlook for Britain, a non-eurozone country where the economy has struggled amid deep budget cutbacks, was heading in the right direction. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development grouping 34 advanced countries, said its index of leading indicators pointed "to moderate improvements in growth in most major OECD economies but in large emerging economies the composite leading indicators point towards stabilising or slowing momentum." The picture for the eurozone as a whole "continues to indicate a gain in growth momentum" with German growth getting back to trend levels and the outlook for Italy turning positive. But the outlook for France "points to relatively stable momentum." Britain, Canada and China were set for growth "close to trend rates" and there were "tentative" signs of an improvement in India. But the figures for Russia and Brazil "point to slowing momentum." The OECD said that its Asian business cycle indicators "suggest that the ASEAN's growth momentum remains resilient overall." The OECD's leading indicators are closely watched as reliable pointers to future economic activity.