The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has triggered a decline in the GDP of France in 2020-Q1, relative to 2019-Q4 and 2019-Q1, which was one of the rst and most severely hit countries in Europe.

The strict national containment measures led to a sharp drop in economic activity which is visible from the decline in consumption, investments and exports. Activity losses are particularly concentrated among transport manufacturers and re neries.

Prices are stable relative to the previous quarter, but are higher than in the same quarter of the previous year due to the positive economic performance in 2019.

With an unemployment rate of 7.73%, France has one of the highest unemployment levels in the Euro Area. The impact of the pandemic is not visible in labour markets in 2020-Q1, due to the lag with which labour markets follow GDP movements, but is likely to lead to a rise in unemployment in 2020-Q2.

July 2020