Measures to curtail the coronavirus pandemic caused a record drop in the gross domestic product (GDP) of G-20 countries in the first three months of 2020, the largest decline since records began in 1998; while Turkey and India were the only two G-20 economies to register growth from January through March, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.
The real GDP in the G-20 countries dropped by 3.4% in the first quarter, with the steepest declines in China, where the economy shrank 9.8% from the fourth quarter of 2019, and in France and Italy, down 5.3% each, the OECD said in Thursday’s report.
These were among the first countries to impose drastic lockdowns against the virus. “As a comparison, the GDP fell only 1.5% in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the financial crisis,” it noted.
Turkey and India were the only two G-20 economies that recorded positive growth in the first quarter, with 0.6% and 0.7% respectively, the OECD added.
The OECD said provisional data showed GDP declines of 2.2% in Germany, 2.1% in Canada and 2% in the U.K.
Output shrank 1.5% in Brazil, 1.3% in the United States and South Korea, and 1.2% in Mexico. The contraction was less felt in Indonesia with a drop of 0.7%, Japan down 0.6% and Australia 0.3% lower, said the report.
