US GDP for 2020 logs worst contraction in 74 years -NHK WORLD-JAPAN -2 hours ago
The US Commerce Department says the country's gross domestic product for last year marked its worst contraction in 74 years, since right after World War Two. This is another testament to the significant fallout from economic restrictions aimed at tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Preliminary data released on Thursday show that the US GDP for 2020 shrank by 3.5 percent in real terms compared to the previous year.
This is the country's first negative growth since the contraction registered in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis.
The figures for 2020 also report a decrease of 3.9 percent in personal consumption, a fall of 4.0 percent in corporate capital investment, and a decline of 13.0 percent in exports.
The statistics also show that real GDP in the fourth quarter of last year increased at an annualized rate of 4.0 percent from the previous three-month period. That represents a precipitous drop from the annualized gain of 33.4 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2020.
The US economy has been rebounding since the latter half of 2020. But the pace of recovery has been losing steam as the number of coronavirus infections surged again this winter.
The total confirmed infections in the US has surpassed 25 million, with the death toll topping 420,000. Both are the largest in the world.
Vaccinations against the virus are believed to be one of the keys to future US economic growth.
