ZCZC
BCN-09
FRANCE-ECONOMY-GROWTH
France sees economy shrinking 17% in Q2
PARIS, June 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The French economy is expected to have contracted 17 percent in the second quarter, the statistics office said Thursday, noting this was a slight improvement on its previous even grimmer prediction.
The French statistics office INSEE previously projected a 20 percent contraction in April, May and June, as the effects of the coronavirus plunged France into its worst economic crisis since World War II.
France was in a total lockdown to battle the coronavirus from March to May, with restrictions eased gradually since then.
INSEE said the slightly better projection was due to an improvement in activity in June, with most lockdown restrictions now lifted.
But it said even in June activity was 12 percent lower than normal although that was better than the downturns of 29 percent and 22 percent seen in April and May.
“The risks (to the forecast) are more to the upside” in the short-term, Julien Pouget of INSEE’s forecast department told reporters, adding that the coronavirus recovery coud be faster than anticipated.
“But that does not allow us to predict when activity will return to its pre-crisis level,” he added.
The Bank of France has said the French economy will likely shrink about 10 percent this year and will not recover to pre-crisis levels until mid-2022.
In the first three months of the year, GDP contracted 5.8 percent, INSEE said in its first estimate.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1400HRS