US GDP fell 3.5 percent last year, the worst record since World War II. This is reported by TASS with reference to the US Department of Commerce.
The country’s economy experienced a significant decline for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2008: then GDP fell by 2.5 percent.
In the fourth quarter, according to initial estimates, GDP grew by four percent in annual terms, and in the third – by a record 33.1 percent (and 7.4 percent in the quarter). In the first quarter, the country’s GDP contracted by five percent, and in the second – by a record 31.4 percent.
The damage to the United States from the coronavirus pandemic is estimated at $ 16 trillion, said former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. About half of this amount is associated with GDP losses as a result of quarantines and the suspension of the work of some sectors of the economy.
In January, US President Joe Biden signed a decree to end the issuance of new licenses for the development of oil and gas fields on state lands and offshore. This could seriously hit the country’s budget, according to market players.