COVID-19: France's economy shrinks by 6% in Q1 of 2020 amid lockdown

The Bank of France on April 8 said that the French economy shrank by around six percent in the first quarter of 2020 due to the shutdown of businesses caused by coronavirus outbreak. According to reports, this was the worst performance of the French economy since 1945. The government data of the last three months of 2019 showed that the economy shrank 0.1 percent and with the recent six percent drop, France is now technically in recession. 

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As per reports, the Central Bank of France has said that the economic activity in the country dropped by a whopping 32 percent in the last two weeks of March, caused by the lockdown measures imposed to prevent the spread of the virus. The Bank of France has said that with every two weeks of the shutdown, the country's economy will fall by 1.5 percent. 

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The current lockdown in France began on March 17 and was later extended until April 15. As per reports, public gatherings in France are banned and schools and colleges shut. Bars, restaurants and other non-essential businesses in the country have also been closed as part of the lockdown measures.  The worst affected sectors according to the Bank of France are construction, fooding, transport and hospitality. France has recorded over 10,000 deaths and more than 1,00,000 infections so far. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The deadly coronavirus infection has claimed nearly 83,000 lives across the world and has infected over 14,44,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China was the most affected country until last month before Italy, Spain, the United States, the UK, France and Iran surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world.  The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.

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(Image Credit: AP)