Real GDP in OECD falls 0.1% in 2012 fourth quarter

The real GDP in the area of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) fell 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, driven by destocking, the OECD said Thursday.Destocking in the fourth quarter 2012 dragged down the GDP growth by 0.3 percentage point, according to the latest OECD report."A contraction in government consumption reduced GDP growth by a further 0.1 percentage point. Contributions from private consumption, gross fixed capital formation and net exports only partially offset these falls," the OECD said.Diverging patterns across countries continued in the fourth quarter although in all major economies except Germany destocking was the dominant factor, the OECD said.In Germany, inventories added 0.2 percentage point to GDP growth, "but this was more than offset by a significant negative contribution from net exports, which dragged down overall growth to minus 0.6 percent," according to the OECD.The main driver of GDP growth in Canada came from private consumptions, so did Japan, while it was investment in the United States. But all these were largely counterbalanced by significant destocking.In France, destocking and investment dragged down economic growth by 0.4 and 0.2 percentage point respectively. In Italy and Britain, the GDP growth was also hit by destocking.