Covid-19 slashes US GDP by 33% in second quarter, outlook shaky

Decline is steepest since the Great Depression, as pandemic shatters spending

Published Thu, Jul 30, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Washington

THE US economy contracted at its steepest pace since the Great Depression in the second quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic shattered consumer and business spending, and a nascent recovery is under threat from a resurgence in new cases of coronavirus.

Gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed at a 32.9 per cent annualised rate last quarter, the deepest decline in output since the government started keeping records in 1947, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

The drop in GDP was more than triple the previous all-time decline of 10 per cent in the second quarter of 1958. The economy contracted at a 5 per ce…