Australia has officially entered the worst economic recession since the Second World War.
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our economy, with businesses across the country forced to close and people ordered to stay at home for as long as possible.
It's the first time Australia has been in a recession in 29 years, however this time it's serious. Every recession is serious, however this is the worst one since the country was left in tatters after World War Two in the 1940s.
Advert
The true state of the economy was revealed in the June quarter report for the country's Gross Domestic Product. It showed that there was a 7 per cent decline in GDP, which is colossal.
The economic fall is higher than what was predicted by the Reserve Bank of Australia and in the upper expectations of some economists, according to News Corp.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told Channel 9 that while a 7 per cent fall in GDP is significant, we are technically doing better than some other countries.
"We are in a much better position than many other countries all around the world," he said to the Today programme. "The UK in the June quarter experienced a contraction of 20 per cent in the one quarter.
Advert
"Across other...countries it is 10 per cent on average."
A recession is declared when there are two consecutive quarters in which a country's GDP shrinks. The March quarter update showed Australia's GDP had fallen 0.3 per cent.
While we might be performing better than other countries who have been hit hard by the coronavirus, a fall of 7 per cent in GDP is unprecedented.
Michael Smedes, Head of National Accounts at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said: "The global pandemic and associated containment policies led to a 7.0 per cent fall in GDP for the June quarter. This is, by a wide margin, the largest fall in quarterly GDP since records began in 1959."