April 12, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1429

PARIS, April 11: The world’s leading industrialised economies, along with emerging market powerhouses China and India, are headed for slower growth in the near term, the OECD warned here on Friday.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its overall composite index of leading indicators in the 29 countries covered by its research increased by 0.1 point in February from January but was down 2.4 points from February 2007.

The index, known as the CLI, provides early signals of turning points between upswings and downswings in economic activity and provides “qualitative information” on short-term movements, according to the OECD.

It said that the CLI was down 0.1 point in the United States in February and was 2.5 points lower than in February 2007. In the eurozone the index fell 0.3 points in February and 2.8 points from a year earlier.

In Japan the CLI rose 0.4 points in February compared with January but was down 4.7 points from February 2007.

The index also registered monthly and yearly declines in non-OECD members China, 0.7 points in February and 3.5 points from a year earlier, and India, down 0.7 points in January from December and 1.9 points compared with January 2007.—AFP