G20 gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.4% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2022, after growing 0.5% in Q1, according to provisional estimates from the OECD.

In a statement released today, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) further states that the contraction in the G20 area contrasts with GDP growth of 0.4% in the OECD in the second quarter of 2022.

The slowdown in the G20 in Q2 2022 mainly reflected the sharp contraction in China, where GDP fell by 2.6% in Q2 2022 after a 1.4% increase in Q1 2022.

This contraction reflected the containments imposed to contain the Covid-19 outbreaks.

GDP also declined in India (-1.41TP2Q), South Africa (-0.71TP2Q) and the United Kingdom and the United States (-0.11TP2Q in both countries).

In India, the main reasons for the slowdown were decreases in government spending and net trade (exports minus imports).

In South Africa, the economic recovery of the previous two quarters was undermined by severe flooding in a key industrial province.

Growth also slowed, but remained positive in Saudi Arabia (2.2%), Indonesia (1.0%), Mexico (0.9%) and Germany (0.1%).

Despite GDP contraction in the G20 as a whole, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Turkey recorded stronger growth in Q2 2022 than in the previous quarter.

Growth in Turkey of 2.1% in the second quarter, up from 0.7% in the first, was supported by a sharp increase in private consumption.

In France, GDP increased by 0.5% in Q2 2022, versus a contraction of 0.2% in the previous quarter, while in Canada growth remained flat at 0.8%.

In Q2 2022, GDP was below pre-pandemic levels (Q4 2019) in two G20 countries, namely Mexico and South Africa.

In Mexico, GDP had not yet exceeded the Q4 2019 level, remaining 1.1% lower than before the pandemic.

In South Africa, a 0.7% GDP decline in Q2 2022 took the country's GDP back to 0.5% below the Q4 2019 level. (News in Minute)