Prospects for seven leading economies in the world worsened in January and there is little sign of the economic crisis stabilising soon, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Its leading indicators for seven top economies fell again to a record low point, and prospects had also worsened in big countries outside the OECD area with Brazil joining China, India and Russia in a group of countries slowing sharply.

Russia showed a particularly rapid worsening of prospects for its economy, the data showed.

The outlook index for all 30 industrialised countries in the OECD fell by 0.9 points in the month of January, and was 9.1 points lower than the level 12 months earlier.

Prospects for the US economy fell by 1.4 points on the index in January and showed a 12-month drop of 10.8 points.

The index for the eurozone fell by 0.6 points in the month and 8.4 points over 12 months, and for Japan by 1.5 points and 9.6 points.

The index for Germany fell by 1.2 points and 12.7 points.

Outside the OECD area, the index for China fell by 2.1 points in the month and 14.8 points over 12 months, for India by 1.0 and 9.6 points, for Russia by 3.3 and 19.4 points, and for Brazil by 2.7 and 10.1 points.