The novel coronavirus has brought with it unprecedented times, causing a huge socio-economic loss. Since the pandemic, the economy and GDP values have taken a severe hit forging governments all over the world to implement a number of measures, thus mitigating the impact of the biggest economic slump.
It has become of paramount importance for many companies to understand the extent of it to be able to calculate the correct prices and discounts for the services rendered.
This article will display the quarterly GDP comparison of Japan and several other countries to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 and explain why some companies have changed their price policies during the pandemic.
Table of Contents
Quarterly GDP and GDP growth: Q1-Q4 2019 to Q1-Q2 2020
The following table shows the quarterly GDP for each country for Q1-Q4 2019 and Q1-Q2 2020, as well as a percentage comparison between Q1 of 2019 and 2020 and Q2 of 2019 and 2020.
From the table, we can see that the quarterly GDP decreased from 2019 to 2020. The countries most hard hit by the economic slump were India, Spain, and France, whereas Japan, Australia, and the US were not as affected. Still, the overall quarterly GDP values are suffering due to the pandemic, as displayed in the table.
The graph below shows a Q2 % change compared to the previous quarter and it can be seen that India, UK, and Spain have suffered the most.
It also shows that the US, Australia, and Japan have suffered too, but the negative impact appears to be less than in other countries.
Quarterly GDP Growth Percentage: Q1 and Q2
The overall trend in quarterly GDP decrease for all countries got noticeable when COVID-19 became a global issue during Q2 2020. The next table will show the quarterly GDP growth percentage for Q1 and Q2 2020.
Most experts expect the Japanese economy to rebound in the coming months, and the US economy rebounded from July to September, with a 7.2% growth.
Although preliminary figures suggest that some countries could minimize the GDP damage slightly for Q3 2020, the damage the pandemic caused will most likely be long-lasting.
A little statistics did no harm to anybody
Japan
- “The world’s third-largest economy shrank an annualized 28.1 percent in April-June, more than a preliminary reading of a 27.8 percent contraction” – Japan Times.
- “Japan’s real gross domestic product for the July to September period is believed to have risen at an annual rate of 18.4% from the previous quarter, posting the first growth in four quarters, according to 12 private think tanks’ estimates” – Japan Times.
- According to the Japan Times and BBC News, the economy is beginning to grow again in Q3 2020 compared to the contraction in the previous quarter. The economy shrank at 28.1% on an annualized basis and 7.9% on a quarterly GDP basis in Q2.
UK
- The British economy contracted 19.8% annually in Q2, officially entering a recession.
US
- According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real GDP increased at an annual rate of 33.1 percent in Q3 2020, whereas in Q2 2020, the real GDP decreased at an annual rate of 31.4%
- Governments all over the world take all the necessary measures to mitigate the shrink in the GDP and impact the coronavirus outbreak on the economy. Some companies also consider revising their price systems or launching free campaigns to make the impact of the sharp economic contraction less noticeable for their clients.
- Be it for the government aid measures or other reasons, some countries already show the signs of the economic rebound, which means there is a ray of hope for all the other hard-hit economies to gradually get back on track.
