OECD warns of slowdown in global economy

Leading eurozone countries and China are showing clear sign of slowdown and the United States and Japan could be slipping towards a downward slope, the OECD said on Monday. France, Germany, China, India and Brazil were already on a path of slowdown, the OECD said on the basis of leading indicators pointing towards future trends. The United States, Japan and Russia were at turning points following a period of growth, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. But the OECD said that Japanese data should be "interpreted with some caution" owing to the difficulty in interpreting data because of disruption caused by the earthquake in March. Last month, the indicators signalled slowing growth by OECD countries with the exception of the United States. In May, the organisation forecast 4.2-percent growth this year across the 34 countries belonging to the OECD, but said that growth in the richer member countries would be 2.3 percent.