COVID-19 PUSHING MUCH OF THE WORLD INTO RECORD ECONOMIC SLUMPS

Here are the second quarter changes in gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the previous quarter for the world's top economies.

AFP 

PARIS - The coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of the world's major economies into unprecedented contractions in the second quarter, except for China which escaped a recession.

Here are the second quarter changes in gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the previous quarter for the world's top economies. Unless stated otherwise, the figures are from the national statistics institutes.

GERMANY

Europe's top economy was hit less hard by the coronavirus than its neighbours, but still saw its GDP fall by 10.1% in the second quarter.

As GDP had already declined by 2% in the first quarter, Germany's economy met the definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of contracting GDP. Germany's previous record for a quarterly GDP drop: 4.7% in the first quarter of 2009.

FRANCE

The eurozone's number two economy was in a longer and stricter lockdown than its eastern neighbour, and second-quarter GDP fell more steeply, by 13.8%, after a drop of 5.9% in the previous three months. Previously the worst quarterly GDP growth in France happened in 1968 because of a general strike in May of that year.

ITALY

Italy's growth was impacted very early on by the coronavirus which hit its richest region, Lombardy, particularly hard. Italian GDP fell by 5.4% in the first quarter and then by 12.4% in the second, pushing the country into recession.

SPAIN

After a 5.2% drop in the first quarter, Spain's economy contracted a further 18.5% in the second, notably because of a 60% drop in tourism income and a fall by one third in exports.

EUROZONE

The eurozone's overall GDP plunged 12.1% in the three months to June, after 3.6% in the first quarter, making the second quarter downturn "by far" the worst since statistics agency Eurostat started compiling growth data for the area in 1995.

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK suffered the worst recession in Europe in the first two quarters of the year, also recording the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe. GDP fell 20.4% in the second quarter after a 2.2% drop in the first.

UNITED STATES

The United States, the world's top economy, suffered a 9.5% slump in the second quarter following a 1.3% drop in the first, according to figures published by the OECD. The US government publishes annualised figures (-32.9% in the second quarter), a method that is not comparable with most other countries.

CHINA

China, the world's second-largest economy, may have been where the novel coronavirus originated, but thanks to strict lockdown measures it was able to largely halt the spread of the virus and reopen factories, thus avoiding a recession.

In the second quarter, its economy rebounded by 11.5%, having fallen by 10% in the first quarter. Still, growth for this year will be much below what China has become accustomed to for decades.

JAPAN

Japan announced in mid-May it was already in recession when the first-quarter GDP slid by 0.6% after a 1.9% drop in the final quarter of 2019. The world's number three economy has yet to publish second-quarter GDP figures.