Eco Week
Calendars

OECD weekly indicator suggests slowing activity in advanced economies

06/12/2022

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to slow around the world. According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, 3.3 million new cases were recorded around the world in the week of 1 to 7 June, a 4% drop on the previous week (Chart 1). On a regional level, the epidemic continues to ease in Africa (-24%) and Asia (-18%), whilst the number of new cases in Europe has stabilised after two months of substantial falls. New case numbers in South America continued to rise strongly (21%), whilst North America also posted a small increase. Meanwhile, 67% of the world’s population has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine (Chart 2).

Over the same period, visits to retail and leisure facilities are still running at pre-pandemic levels in France, Belgium and Germany, whilst Italy and the UK are close to returning to this level. Conversely, visit numbers remain lower than they were before the pandemic in the USA, Spain and Japan (Chart 3, blue line).

The weekly proxy indicator for year-on-year GDP growth continued to weaken in the USA, the UK and, to a lesser extent, Belgium. Conversely, it remained stable in France, Italy and Spain. In Germany and Japan, we are seeing slightly clearer signs of a downturn (Chart 3, black line). This indicator is produced by the OECD on the basis of data from Google Trends for searches relating to consumption, the labour and property markets, industrial activity and uncertainty. The indicator shown here is calculated on a moving 12-month basis.

DAILY CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES (7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE)
SHARE OF PEOPLE WHO RECEIVED AT LEAST ONE DOSE OF VACCINE
RETAIL AND RECREATION MOBILITY & OECD WEEKLY TRACKER

DAILY NEW CASES & RETAIL AND RECREATION MOBILITY
THE EXPERT ECONOMISTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS ARTICLE

Other articles from the same publication

Editorial
The worrisome cost of worrying about recession

The worrisome cost of worrying about recession

The global economy has been hit by multiple shocks this year: new Covid-19 cases in China, the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates [...]

Read the article
Economic Pulse
The impact of the war in Ukraine has been more pronounced than expected 

The impact of the war in Ukraine has been more pronounced than expected 

The negative prospects for the second quarter of 2022 are no longer a risk as suggested by business surveys, they are now taking concrete shape in Germany [...]

Read the article
Economic Pulse
Economic data is more mixed than bad

Economic data is more mixed than bad

The latest economic data from INSEE have provided detail on the timing and scale of the purchasing power shock to household consumption, with three figures standing out: the 1 [...]

Read the article
Economic Pulse
Conditions worsen significantly 

Conditions worsen significantly 

The deterioration of the business climate surveys continued in May, particularly in the manufacturing sector, even though industrial production held up until April. Output rose 1.6% m/m, to its highest level since December 2007 [...]

Read the article