Economic growth of the 38 members in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) rose by 0.4 percent quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2023, according to provisional estimates on Tuesday.

This was slightly up from the 0.2-percent growth in the previous quarter.

Quarterly growth rates among countries in the OECD have been weak since the first quarter of 2022, the intergovernmental group said on its official website.

Among the Group of Seven (G7) countries – consisting United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – quarter-on-quarter GDP growth remained at 0.3 percent in the first quarter. GDP growth recovered in Canada (0.6 percent), Japan (0.4 percent) and France (0.2 percent). GDP growth in the UK was unchanged at 0.1 percent. However, GDP growth slowed in the U.S. to 0.3 percent, compared with 0.6 percent last quarter.

G7's main economic drivers

The OECD said several G7 countries have published details of the main factors driving the changes in GDP.

In Japan, GDP growth in the first quarter was supported by a 0.7-percent increase in total domestic demand, but a further drop in net exports weighed on growth.

By contrast, in France, net exports were the main driver of growth, reflecting a 1.1-percent increase in exports and a 0.6-percent drop in imports.

In the U.S., slower GDP growth was attributed to decreased inventory investment despite an acceleration of private consumption growth.

In the UK, a fall in government spending and an increase in the trade deficit dampened growth.

Elsewhere in the OECD, GDP was above Q4 2019 levels in Q1 2023 in all countries for which data was available except Spain and the Czech Republic.