OREANDA-NEWS. Bloomberg agency writes that economists expect gross domestic product of the USA to fall by 25 % in annual terms in the second quarter of 2020, and this will be the strongest drop in the country’s history.

Journalists conducted a survey among 69 economists about how the financial system of the United States will respond to the coronavirus epidemic and what will happen to the unemployment rate.

“Even if the economy starts to re-open in mid-May, more than 20 million Americans will have lost their job with the economy likely having contracted around 13 % peak-to-trough, more than three times deeper than the global financial crisis,” James Knightley, economist at ING Financial Markets, said.

According to other experts, unemployment in the United States will be 12.6 % in the second quarter and will reach a record level since the 1940s. It is expected that this figure will gradually decrease and after two years unemployment will be at around 5.4 %.