Major economies 'all recovering'

The UK economy is indicating strong signs of growth says the OECD

Major economies across the world are showing strong signs of recovery, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said.

The OECD's leading indicators "point strongly" to growth in Italy, France, the UK and China.

The Canadian and German economies are also displaying "tentative signals of expansion", the organisation said.

The report will provide some cheer for the UK, which is still stuck in its longest recorded recession.

While other major economies such as the US, France, Germany and Japan have all started growing again, the UK economy contracted by 0.4% between July and September.

But the OECD rates the UK as one of just four major economies indicating expansion.

Any rising score above 100 in the organisation's scores indicates expansion. Italy scored 105.6, France 104.6, the UK 103.9 and China 103.2.

Italy also showed the biggest rise in its score compared with a year earlier.

The report also found that recovery was "clearly visible" in the US and Japan and all other OECD countries and major non-OECD countries.

It also suggested that the 16 nations that make up the eurozone were, collectively, indicating expansion.

The other regional groupings used by the organisation - the major five Asian economies of China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Korea; the G7 nations (see graph); and the 30 members of the OECD itself - all indicate recovery.