White House says a second consecutive quarter of negative GDP 'unlikely' to be indicative of recession

A Republican National Committee spokesperson said that this further underscores how 'out of touch' President Biden is with Americans

Adam Sabes FOXBusiness

 

The White House Council of Economic Advisers said on July 21 that even if Friday's advance estimate of the country's GDP is negative, it's still "unlikely" to be indicative that the country is in a recession.

Recessions refer to two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

In a blog post, the council of economic advisers says that two consecutive quarters of falling GDP doesn't mean the country is in a recession.

"What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle," the blog post states.

Citing figures from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the post states that their "recession indicator variables" have "exhibited strong growth in the U.S. economy since the start of the pandemic, and have continued to expand through the first half of this year."

Even if the Bureau of Economic Analysis' advance estimate of the second quarter GDP shows a negative number, the blog post says the country is likely not in a recession. Read more and see video here.