OECD countries started the year with little economic growth relative to the previous quarter. GDP, however, is significantly higher than in the same quarter of the previous year, when COVID was still holding back economic activity. Since then, consumption levels have spiked and international trade has risen again. The economic recovery, production bottlenecks of Chinese manufacturing firms that were forced to stop during the pandemic, soaring energy prices, and uncertainties related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have contributed to increasing inflation rates, at 2.97 percent relative to the previous quarter and at 7.90 percent relative to the previous year. According to the OECD economic outlook, annual inflation is expected drop in the next quarters and to stabilize at around 3 percent in 2023, GDP growth is expected to stabilize at 5 percent, and unemployment is expected to decrease slightly, but steadily, towards the next year.

July 2022