사상최악 충격 성적표 받은 세계경제... 3분기 회복도 '불안'<br /><br />The coronavirus pandemic has caused GDP in the United States to fall by the most in history, and the same for Germany.<br />Second quarter GDP in the American economy was down almost 33 percent.<br />Eum Ji-young reports.<br />The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an unprecedented toll on the global economy,... with the U.S. and Germany recording their steepest ever drops in gross domestic product.<br />According to statistics released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday,... the country's economy shrank in the second quarter at an annualized rate of 32-point-9 percent .<br />"Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity in the U.S. so the steep contraction last quarter was driven by the lockdown."<br />Not annualized, U.S. GDP was down on-quarter by 9-and-a-half percent.<br />But by either measure, this is the largest quarterly decline since such figures were first recorded in 1947.<br />The plunge was far greater than the eight-point-four percent fall in the fourth quarter of 2008 at the peak of the global financial crisis.<br />The expert said he expects the U.S. economy to see an upswing in the second half of the year as the economy hit its lowest point in the second quarter.<br />"I believe vaccines will be developed and will be distributed in the fourth quarter. If that happens, I expect the U.S. economy to recover at a fast pace and reach the level it was at before the pandemic.<br />There was a huge drop in GDP also in Germany, Europe's biggest economy.<br />During the April to June period,... Germany's economy shrank by 10-point-1 percent on quarter... as exports and business investment collapsed.<br />The eurozone's second biggest economy, France, shrank on quarter by 13-point-8 percent.<br />Another expert said these contractions in the world's major economies will hurt South Korea's exports, which are the main driver of the country's economy.<br />And that impact, he said, will last through next year.<br />Eum Ji-young Arirang News.<br />
