No surprise, the US’s Gross Domestic Product rate went negative in the first quarter of 2020, down 4.8%. That’s comparable and possibly worse than the worst of the Great Recession. It isn’t just the US. China was down 6.8%. The EU is expected to contract by 7.5% this year. US unemployment reached 14.7%. Millions are unemployed around the world. To counter these impacts, governments are spending trillions to support various parts of the world’s economies. Each country does so differently, so the effect is of testing the various approaches. Regardless, those efforts are increasing government debt. Interest rate cuts have not been effective in stimulating economies, which also shouldn’t be a surprise as many people can’t work from home, and the businesses where they could work are closed. Comparisons to the Great Depression are common. As bad as this sounds, keep in mind that most of this data is from the first three or four months of 2020. The second quarter of 2020 isn’t over yet, and neither is the pandemic.
“The Economic Effects Of COVID-19 Around The World” – World Economic Forum
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