Covid-19 drags French economic system into deep recession the likes of which it has not seen since 1945

The Financial institution of France stated on Wednesday that the nation’s economic system shrank round six p.c within the first quarter of this yr, its worst efficiency because the finish of WWII.

In response to official figures, the economic system dropped zero.1 p.c within the final three months of 2019 because the coronavirus pandemic decimated enterprise exercise. With two consecutive quarters of adverse development, the nation is now technically in recession.

Financial exercise plunged 32 p.c within the final two weeks of March because the disaster deepened, stated the French regulator. It has listed development, transport, eating places and lodging among the many worst affected sectors of the economic system.

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“It’s a must to return to the second quarter of 1968, hit by the Could [political upheaval], to discover a related fall in exercise,” it stated, noting that even that yr the downturn was 5.three p.c. The financial institution expects the economic system to shrink by 1.5 p.c for each two weeks the nation is locked down by the virus.

The present lockdown began on March 17 and has been prolonged by two weeks to April 15. The authorities have steered it may very well be prolonged additional if the virus reveals no signal of not less than leveling off. France is now the world’s fourth-worst-hit nation by Covid-19, with the variety of deaths from the pandemic having exceeded 10,000, whereas greater than 110,000 individuals have been contaminated.

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