Following the introduction of COVID-19 containment measures across the world since March 2020, real gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area showed an unprecedented fall, by (minus) 9.8%, in the second quarter of 2020, according to provisional estimates. This is the largest drop ever recorded for the OECD area, significantly larger than the (minus) 2.3% recorded in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. Among the Major Seven economies, GDP fell most dramatically, by (minus) 20.4%, in the United Kingdom. In France, where lockdown measures were among the most stringent, GDP declined by ... (full story)