CBO predicts a 40 percent GDP drop this quarter

(Image credit: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

published 24 April 2020

The Congressional Budget Office has some pretty dismal predictions for the rest of the year.

In 2020's second fiscal quarter, which runs from April through June, the nonpartisan CBO expects the GDP to contract 39.6 percent year over year. That's an 11.8 percent drop from Q1, CBO predictions released Friday reveal.

The CBO chalks the massive Q2 contraction up to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and "the social distancing measures put in place to contain it." It then predicts economic activity will restart in Q3, leading to a 5.4 percent growth year over year in that quarter, or a 23.5 percent jump from Q2. But the unemployment rate will only continue to grow through Q2 and Q3, hitting an estimated 14 and 16 percent, respectively, the CBO estimates. Things will only start to rebound in Q4, which the CBO predicts will close with an 11.7 percent unemployment rate.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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