WASHINGTON, DC – While many economists are unsure of when the economy will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis gives hope that the answer is, soon. According to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau this week, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 percent during the fourth quarter of 2020. This comes after the country saw real GDP increase more than 33 percent during the third quarter of the year. The increase in fourth-quarter GDP reflected continued efforts to reopen businesses and resume activities that were postponed due to COVID-19, as well as new restrictions and closures that took effect in some areas across the nation. The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the GDP estimate for the fourth quarter of 2020 because of data limitations. The real GDP increase in the fourth quarter as a result of positive contributions in exports, nonresidential fixed investment, personal consumption expenditures, residential fixed investment, and private inventory investment, but were partly offset from spending by the federal government and state and local government.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)