Turkey recorded the highest growth rate in the first quarter of 2024 at 2.4 percent, followed by India at 1.9 percent.
The latest figures showed Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.4% in the first quarter of 2024, outpacing the G20’s 0.9% growth. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data.
In its latest “G20 GDP Growth – Q1 2024” report, the OECD revealed that Saudi Arabia’s GDP growth recovered from a 0.6% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the G20, GDP grew from 0.7% in the previous quarter.
China and India drive G20 growth
The OECD said the strong economic performance of the G20 region was mainly due to growth in China and India in the first quarter of 2024. In addition to the two countries, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Indonesia all recorded higher GDP growth than the G20 as a whole.
Turkey recorded the highest growth rate at 2.4%, followed by India at 1.9%, China at 1.6%, Saudi Arabia at 1.4%, South Korea at 1.3% and Indonesia at 1.2%.
Additionally, first-quarter GDP growth increased in China, South Korea and Turkey compared to the fourth quarter, but declined slightly in India and Indonesia.
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Other growth slowdowns G20 countries
The report highlighted GDP growth in Saudi Arabia and other countries, and found that growth in the remaining G20 countries was weaker than the G20 as a whole.
The United States in particular saw an economic slowdown, with GDP growth falling to 0.3% in the first quarter of 2023 from 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Japan’s economy contracted by 0.5%, while South Africa experienced a contraction of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, Brazil, the UK and Germany recovered in the first quarter after contracting in the fourth quarter, growing at 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.2% respectively.
Additionally, the economies of Canada, Mexico and the European Union grew 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.3%, respectively, in the first quarter after zero growth in the fourth quarter.
The G20 region’s GDP is expected to grow 3.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, in line with the annual growth rate of the previous quarter. Among G20 countries, India recorded the highest growth rate at 8.4% year-on-year, followed by Turkey at 7.4% and Saudi Arabia at 1.5%, which recorded the largest annual GDP declines.
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