The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) foresaw Monday "a mild recession" in the eurozone in the near term as the sovereign debt concerns becomes "increasingly widespread" and advanced economies are collectively slowing down.

The euro area is expected to grow 1.6 percent this year, then decline sharply to a mild growth of 0.2 percent in 2012 before rebounding to 1.4 in 2013, according to the newest Economic Outlook released by the Paris-based organization which paid large focus on the region in this edition.

The new projection is 0.4 percentage points less in 2011 growth rate compared with the previous one, but revised sharply down the 2012 figure from 2.0 percent in the previous report released in May.

The last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 will see respective economic contraction of 1.0 percent and 0.4 percent in the single currency bloc covering 17 countries, the OECD report said.

Among the major seven economies, the United States is projected to grow 1.7 percent, 2.0 percent and 2.5 percent respectively in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and Japan will see minus 0.3 percent growth this year, followed with 2.0 percent in 2012 and 1.6 percent in 2013.

Notably weighed down by peer member's sovereign debt issue, France's growth data in the coming two years are expected to around 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent after 1.6 percent this year and Germany, the largest eurozone economy will see 0.6 percent and 1.9 percent in order after a 3.0-percent increase this year. Enditem

Xinhua