France’s economy shrinks most since World War II amid coronavirus pandemic

Bureau: The death toll of France from the coronavirus rose to 10,869 on Wednesday, up 541 from the day before.

France reported that 7,632 people have so far succumbed to the disease in the hospitals since the start of the outbreak, while care homes have seen 3,237 patients pass away.

The number of confirmed cases in the country reached 82,048, with 59,849 of them are currently under treatment in hospitals. A total of 21,254 people have recovered, said the Health Ministry, adding that 7,148 are in intensive care — with only 17 patients more patients since Tuesday.

The French economy has shrunk about six percent in the first quarter of this year amid the spread of the new coronavirus and a consequent lockdown that has disrupted economic activity.

According to reports, the Bank of France said on Wednesday that economic activity had plunged 32 percent in the last two weeks of March.

It was the economy’s worst performance since 1945. Such a GDP drop from one quarter to the next would be comparable only to the 5.3 percent recorded around the strikes of May 1968.

“You have to go back to the second quarter of 1968, hit by the May (political upheaval), to find a similar fall in activity,” the Bank of France said.

The outlook for the rest of the year, the bank said, is souring significantly under the current circumstances. For every two weeks the country is locked down, the central bank expects the economy to contract by 1.5 percent.

Among the worst affected sectors of the economy listed are construction, transport, restaurants and lodging. In industry, the sharpest decline in activity has occurred in the automotive and machine-making sectors.

The current lockdown has been extended by two weeks to April 15. The authorities, however, suggested this could be kept longer in place if the virus shows no sign of at least levelling off.