PARIS: Leading global economies contracted in the first three months of 2014 as companies traded less and ordered fewer goods, and despite a slight rise in private consumption, the OECD said Thursday.

Data showed that economic activity contracted by 0.2 per cent overall in the first quarter of 2014 among the group`s 34 members, compared with thelastguarterof2013.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development had recorded growth of 0.5pc in the previous quarter.For the third quarter running, private consumption was the biggest contributor to business activity, posting an increase of 0.3pc in the first three months of this year, a statement said.

International trade trimmed the overall result by 0.1 percentage point meanwhile, while the drawing down of stocks led to the cut of another 0.2 percentage points.

Those two factors were particularly prevalent in the US where bad weather has been blamed in large part for an overall drop of 0.7pc in the three-month period.-AFP