Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an unprecedented annual rate of 33.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020 (or 8.275% on a quarterly basis), as efforts to reopen businesses and resume activities that were postponed or restricted due to COVID-19, have had a record setting impact. In the second quarter of 2020, real GDP decreased 31.4 percent (or 7.85% on a quarterly basis) . The third-quarter increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, inventory investment, exports, business investment, and housing investment that were partially offset by a decrease in government spending. Imports, a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

(See, table for GDP percentage comparisons over the past 12 months).