The statistical data show, the Covid-19 has already plunged France into an economic slump. The country has registered a dip of historic 13.8% of its gross domestic product in the second quarter because of the outbreak of coronavirus, has announced, on Friday, Insee.
Since it measures the economic activity of French quarterly, never to the national statistics Institute had recorded such a collapse. It has also revised its measure of activity in the first quarter, which fell to 5.9 %, instead of 5.3 % reported previously. The drop in activity in the second quarter, however, is less than that anticipated most of the analysts and the Insee itself, which judged it to be still at 17 % in the month of June.
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Insee is expected to + 19 % for the third quarter
In detail, the household consumption, the main component of growth, fell by 11 %, the investment of 17.8 %, exports of 25.5 %. "The negative evolution of GDP in the first half of 2020 is linked to the discontinuation of non-core activities in the context of containment put in place between mid-march and early may," says the institute in a press release. "The gradual lifting of restrictions led to a gradual recovery in economic activity in the months of may and June, after the low point reached in April," says Insee.
The highest quarterly decline of GDP before the crisis of the sars coronavirus was recorded in the second quarter of 1968, affected by the general strike in may, but that had been followed by a rebound of + 8 % in the summer. The rise should this time be all the more vigorous that the downward spiral was abysmal : the Insee is expected to + 19 % for the third quarter, Natixis + 16 % and the Bank of France + 14 %.
