The IRU Road Transport Indices, a benchmark in GDP growth, new truck registration and road transport volumes now in 51 countries, forecast slight economic recovery at global level.

Geneva - The IRU has expanded the geographical coverage of its Road Transport Indices to 51 economies* including OECD states, as well as the EU, Balkan, BRIC and TRACECA countries. 

The IRU Indices provide historic data on GDP, road freight transport volumes and new vehicle registrations from 2005 onwards, while providing a one year forecast.  

For 2010, the IRU Indices forecast for OECD countries:

·         an average 1.1% increase in GDP, compared to an overall decrease of 3.8% in 2009; 

·         a 1.1% growth of transported tonnes, versus a 3.9% decrease in 2009; and 

·         a modest increase in new vehicle registrations of 0.9% reaching 1.3 million new registrations of trucks over 3.5 tonnes in 2010, which is still considerably below the level of the 2005 base year.

IRU Head of Sustainable Development, Jens Hügel, said, “After a year of economic crisis, there are clear signs that the economic decline will stop. However, it appears that transport operators are reluctant to invest in new vehicles, preferring instead to wait for more steady economic growth.”

For BRIC countries, IRU indices of road freight volumes show for 2010:

a 10% growth in China, versus 8% in 2009; 

a 7.3% increase in India, compared to a 5.8% growth in 2009; 

a 4.8% increase in Brazil vs. 0% in 2009; and 

a 4.9% increase in Russia, after a drastic decline of 8.6% in 2009. 

“It seems that ‘old’ OECD economies will not jumpstart the ‘global economic engine’, but rather the BRIC countries that were less severely impacted by the crisis than OECD countries,” Jens Hügel concluded. 

For country comparisons and comparative data, as well as IRU Indices methodology, please visit the IRU’s website (http://www.iru.org/index/indices-app).

* * *

* OECD:       Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,  Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,  United Kingdom, United States of America.

EU:               Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. 

BRIC:           India, China, Brazil, Russia.

Balkan:        Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia.

TRACECA:   Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

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