washington in its worst performance in a decade the us economy contracted by 48 per cent in the first quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic that has forced a near shut down of the country according to the latest governmental advance estimates released on wednesdaythe decline in the first quarter gdp gross doemstic product was in part due to the response to the spread of the covid19 as governments issued stayathome orders in march said the bureau of economic analyses bea of the us department of commercethis led to rapid changes in demand as businesses and schools switched to remote work or cancelled operations and consumers cancelled restricted or redirected their spending it saidthe sharpest contraction of the american economy in a decade is expected to get worse in the second quarter in the fourth quarter of 2019 real gdp increased 21 per cent it saidaccording to the bea the full economic effects of the covid19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the gdp estimate for the first quarter of 2020 because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identifiedover the weekend white house senior economic adviser kevin hassett said that they expected secondquarter negative gdp growth between minus 15 and minus 20 per centus president donald trump believes the us economy is likely to bounce back by the fourth quarter and next yearwhat we are doing is i think youre going to see a big rise in the third but youre going to see an incredible fourth quarter and youre going to have an incredible next year i think youre going to have a recovery trump told reporters on mondayexplaining the reasons for contraction of the american economy the bea said that the decrease in the first quarter real gdp reflected decreases in consumer spending nonresidential fixed investment exports and private inventory investment that were partly offset by increases in residential fixed investment and government spendingimports which are a subtraction in the calculation of the gdp decreased it saidfor durable goods the largest contributor to the decrease was new motor vehicles based primarily on three months of unit sales data from wards automotive reports the report saidfor nondurable goods increases in food and other nondurable goods notably prescription drugs were partly offset by a decrease in clothing and footwear it said