Gross domestic product grew in the OECD area for the fourth consecutive quarter, the Organzation for Economic Co-operation and Development said Monday.

GDP in the OECD area rose by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the group reported today, led by strong growth in the United States (0.8%) and Japan (1.2%).

Growth was more subdued in both the Euro area and the European Union (0.2%). Italy returned to positive GDP growth in the first quarter of this year (0.5%), after the small decline of the previous quarter, while the pace of the recovery eased in both France and the UK, and was unchanged in Germany, it said. Quarterly data for Canada is not yet available.

Relative to a year earlier, GDP in the OECD area returned to positive growth (2.5%) after five consecutive quarters of contraction, it said. Apart from the UK (where GDP was 0.2% lower than a year earlier), GDP was above the level recorded in the previous year in all other major OECD economies, with a large rebound in Japan (4.2%) in particular.