As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the US economy during the second quarter of the year suffers its biggest blow since the Great Depression.
As Reuters reports, the US economy has to deal with consumer and business spending, and a nascent recovery is under threat from a resurgence in new cases of COVID-19.
Specifically, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday the bulk of the deepest contraction in at least 73 years during April, when the activity almost reached ground to an abrupt halt after restaurants, bars and factories among others were shuttered in mid-March to slow the spread of the pandemic.
Moreover, gross domestic product collapsed at a 32.9% annualized rate last quarter, the deepest decline in output since the government started keeping records in 1947. The drop in GDP was more than triple the previous all-time decline of 10% in the second quarter of 1958. The economy contracted at a 5.0% pace in the first quarter. It fell into recession in February.
The GDP on a year-on-year basis reached a record decline of 9.5% last quarter, while output shrank 10.6% in the first half. It is stated that the level of GDP has dropped to levels last seen in the last quarter of 2014.
