Frankrig, eurozonens næststørste økonomi, havde minusvækst på 5,8 pct. i første kvartal. Dermed endte Frankrig i recession, da der var en lille minusvækst på 0,1 pct. i fjerde kvartal. Nedturen var større, end økonomerne havde ventet. Spanien og Italien ventes også at komme med meget negative tal for økonomien i dag.
Uddrag fra Fidelity/Dow Jones:
French Economy Suffers Historic Drop and Enters Recession
France’s economy posted a historic decline and entered a recession as gross domestic product shrank for the second consecutive quarter due to the coronavirus and the lockdown measures imposed to contain it.
The eurozone’s second-biggest economy contracted 5.8% during the first quarter, following a 0.1% decline in the fourth quarter of 2019, French statistics agency Insee said in a first estimate for the period. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecasts a 4.2% contraction.
The nation’s economy contracted 5.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, Insee said.
The contraction is much larger than the rate of decline seen in the first quarter of 2009, when the economy contracted 1.6% as the financial crisis hit.
The coronavirus-driven contraction is also greater than the 5.3% plunge in the second quarter of 1968, when the economy of France came to a halt due to the protests known as May 68.
Spain and Italy will also publish GDP figures on Thursday and they are estimated to have suffered even sharper declines, as they are the two worst-hit countries by the pandemic. The eurozone as a whole will also release the first estimate of its GDP for the first quarter and a sharp contraction is expected.
