G20 economies see strong recovery in Q3

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – Though gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area bounced back by 8.1% in the third quarter of 2020, it still remained below the pre-pandemic high, a global economic body said Monday.

However, 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 with 5.4% and 4.9%, respectively, while the UK posted the largest fall by 9.6%, showed the latest report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organization with 37 member countries.

"A similar picture emerges when comparing economic activity in Q3 with pre-pandemic levels, as approximated by the cumulative growth rate for the first three quarters of 2020," noted OECD.

India was the country that saw the strongest growth with 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%, after a contraction of 13.8%.

This is followed by Italy and Turkey with countries' economies seeing 15.9% and 15.6% rises, after posting 13% and 10.8% drops in the Q2, respectively.

The figure also increased in the other major economies such as Canada, Germany, Brazil and the US with 8.9%, 8.5%, 7.7%, 7.4% rises, respectively.