Real gross domestic product in the United States — the goods and services produced in the nation — declined at an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter of 2020. That’s according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Wednesday.
It was the biggest decline in quarterly GDP since the fourth quarter of 2008, in the middle of the Great Recession, and it was the first drop since 2014.
The drop in first-quarter GDP was partly attributable to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to government “stay-at-home” orders across the country in March. That in turn led to the demand for goods and services plunging.
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