OECD sees signs of EU growth

Economic growth was beginning to re-emerge in the 17-nation euro currency area, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said as it released key economic indicators Monday.

The recovery in Europe's biggest economy, Germany, had pushed up an OECD indicator for the eurozone designed to identify turning points in the business cycle, said the organization, which represents senior Western industrialized nations.

In addition, indicators for Italy's economy were in a stabilizing phase, the OECD said, which was an improvement from a recent period of decline.

However, hopes for modest growth in France were slightly dented as the currency area's second-largest economy was merely showing signs of stabilization rather than expansion, as the OECD indicators had suggested in February.

By contrast, the OECD business cycle indicators point towards sustained growth in the United States and Japan. Emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil are also picking up, but at a pace that the OECD finds to be below trend.

On a global scale, taking the indicators of the world's top 33 economies together, growth seems to remain stable as the OECD barometer edged up from 100.3 points in December to 100.4 points in March - just above the long-term average of 100 points.

uhe/kms (AFP, Reuters)