Economic bloc says GDP narrowed by 9.8% in Q2

ISTANBUL

Gross domestic product (GDP) narrowed unprecedentedly by 9.8% in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area in the second quarter of 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions and lockdown.

"This is the largest drop ever recorded for the OECD area, significantly larger than the (minus) 2.3% recorded in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the financial crisis," the 37-member economic bloc said on Wednesday.

Among seven major OECD economies, the largest GDP decrease was seen in the UK (20.4%), followed by France (13.8%), Italy (12.4%), Canada (12%), and Germany (9.7%).

The US' GDP contracted by 9.5% while it narrowed by 7.8% in Japan in the second quarter of 2020.

The eurozone and the EU's GDP also dropped by 12.1% and 11.7%, respectively, compared with declines of minus 3.6% and minus 3.2% in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, the GDP narrowed by 10.9% in the OECD area on a yearly basis in the second quarter of 2020.

"Among the major seven economies, the US recorded an annual growth of minus 9.5%, while the UK recorded the sharpest annual fall (minus 21.7%)," the OECD said.

The Turkish economy grew by 4.5% in the first quarter of 2020 on an annual basis. Official figures for the second quarter will be released next week.

After appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread all around the world, causing millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Efforts to curb the virus’s spread -- focusing on people staying at home and avoiding most human contact -- have hit economies hard.