In its latest report, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects the world's real GDP year-over-year growth will be 3.3% in 2019, down from 3.6% in 2018. The eurozone is expected to have the sharpest decline of 0.8 percentage points, followed by a 0.6-percentage-point decline in the U.K.'s real GDP. Changes in U.S. GDP project to be on par with the world in 2018, but diverge in 2020, where the U.S and China are both projected to decline.
Among the themes identified by the OECD to adversely impact global growth are trade-related slowdowns in Chinese growth as well as declining export volume out of the eurozone. Export orders from eurozone manufacturers have been in decline since the end of 2017.
The report also highlighted the impact of the Brexit referendum on the U.K. economy. The OECD projects that the vote to leave the European Union widened the gap in real GDP growth between the country and that of Germany, France and the U.S. by 0.7% more percentage points than it would have otherwise lagged the cohort since the June 2016 vote.
