French Economy Plunges Into Deep Recession Due to COVID-19 Fallout

At the moment, France is living under a national curfew in a bid to curb the infection, which has already claimed over 74,000 lives in the country, while the number of infected in France has surpassed 3 million.

The official French statistics office INSEE confirmed a deep recession last year due to the pandemic, with the total decline in output reaching 8.3 percent. Initially, the decline was estimated at 9.0, however, the French economy managed to recover in the latter part of 2020.

"The loss of economic activity was much more modest than that of the first round in March-May 2020", INSEE said.

FILE PHOTO: A senior citizen receives the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination centre in Le Cannet, France, January 19, 2021

© REUTERS / Eric Gaillard/File Photo

However, according to the report, in the fourth quarter alone, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was down 5.0 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.

While in 2019 France was among Europe's leaders in terms of economic growth, showing a 1.5% rise, the 2020 downturn is the worst recession in France since World War II.