PARIS: Gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area rebounded by 8.1% in the third quarter of 2020 following the unprecedented falls in the first half of the year due to COVID-19 containment measures. However, GDP remained 2.4% below its pre-crisis high of the final quarter of 2019.
Among the G20 economies, GDP in India rebounded strongest, by 21.9%, following a fall of 25.2% in the second quarter, the sharpest drop ever recorded.
GDP also rebounded with double-digit numbers in the third quarter, after double-digit falls in the second quarter, in France (by 18.7%, following a contraction of (minus) 13.8%), Italy (by 15.9%, after minus 13.0%), Turkey (by 15.6%, after minus 10.8%), United Kingdom (by 15.5%, after minus 19.8%), South Africa (by 13.5%, after minus 16.6%) and Mexico (by 12.1%, after minus 17.0%). GDP also grew in the other major economies: 8.9% in Canada; 8.5% in Germany; 7.7% in Brazil; 7.4% in the United States; 5.3% in Japan; 3.3% in Australia; 3.1% in Indonesia; 2.7% in China; 2.1% in Korea; and 1.2% in Saudi Arabia.
GDP in the G20 area as a whole remained significantly below the levels of the same quarter a year earlier (minus 2.0%), with only Turkey and China recording positive growth (of 5.4% and 4.9%, respectively), while the United Kingdom experienced the largest fall (minus 9.6%). A similar picture emerges when comparing economic activity in the third quarter with pre-pandemic levels, as approximated by the cumulative growth rate for the first three quarters of 2020.
