This decline can be explained by the containment measures linked to Covid-19, which began to be widely implemented by member states in March.
–
Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) fell 3.6% in the first quarter, slightly less than the -3.8% originally announced, according to a third estimate Tuesday from the European Statistics Office Eurostat .
However, this is the largest decline in GDP since the creation of the single currency in 1999.
This decline can be explained by the containment measures linked to Covid-19, which began to be widely implemented by member states in March.
GDP increased by 0.1% in the euro area during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Among the Member States for which data for the first quarter of 2020 are available, only Ireland (+ 1.2%) continued to show positive growth.
GDP fell in all the other Member States, in particular in France and Italy (-5.3% each) as well as in Spain and Slovakia (-5.2% each).
Germany, for its part, has a GDP down 2.2%.
Across the European Union, GDP fell 3.2% in the first three months of the year.
–
