OECD activity now looks to be approaching its nadir, following the deepest decline in post-war history. The ensuing recovery is likely to be both weak and fragile for some time. And the negative economic and social consequences of the crisis will be long-lasting. Yet, it could have been worse. Thanks to a strong economic policy effort an even darker scenario seems to have been avoided. But this is no reason for complacency; the need for determined policy action remains across a wide field of policies.

For the first time since June 2007, the projections in this Economic Outlook have been revised up for the OECD area as a whole compared with the previous issue. The contraction of output is now moderating from the exceptional drop in the six months to March. The slowdown in the fall of activity is driven by inventory adjustment contributing positively to growth, non-OECD countries recovering, some return of business confidence and policy stimulus providing greater support. However, financial conditions remain tight in spite of some recent easing and the bottom of the recession is likely to be reached only in the second half of the current year, after which a weak recovery is projected (Table 1.1). The OECD economy will at the end of 2010 therefore be faced with an exceptional degree of slack...

The economic crisis will cast a long shadow. The projections described in Chapters 1 and 2 imply that by the end of 2010, even though a recovery is under way, most OECD countries will still face severe macroeconomic imbalances including large output gaps, high unemployment, very low inflation or even deflation and wide fiscal deficits. This chapter considers how such macroeconomic imbalances might begin to be resolved over the medium term, as well as the main associated risks and uncertainties.

This annex contains data on some main economic series which are intended to provide a background to the recent economic developments in the OECD area described in the main body of this report. Data for 2008 to 2010 are OECD estimates and projections. The data on some of the tables have been adjusted to internationally agreed concepts and definitions in order to make them more comparable as between countries, as well as consistent with historical data shown in other OECD publications. Regional totals and sub-totals are based on those countries in the table for which data are shown. Aggregate measures contained in the Annex, except the series for the euro area (see below), are computed on the basis of 2005 GDP weights expressed in 2005 purchasing power parities (see following page for weights). Aggregate measures for external trade and payments statistics, on the other hand, are based on current year exchange rates for values and base-year exchange rates for volumes.