The pandemic and related quarantine restrictions dealt a severe blow to the economy in just two months.
GDP in the first quarter of 2020 compared with the first quarter of 2019 decreased by 3.2% in the Eurozone and 2.6% in all EU countries. This is evidenced by the operational evaluation of Eurostat on Friday, May 15.
The EU statistical agencies say that this is the sharpest decline since the III quarter of 2009 (-4.5% for the euro area and -4.4% for the EU).
It is noted that the measures for the localization of COVID-19 began to be widely used by EU member states only in March, in the last month of the period covered.
Recall that earlier in the European Commission announced the deepest recession in the history of the EU. The economic downturn in the EU in 2020 will amount to 7.4%. Next year growth does not compensate for these losses.
It was also reported that the UN estimated the loss of the global economy from a coronavirus. Developed countries will be among the most affected by the pandemic, and poverty will increase in developing countries.