The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly driving the European Union into a “deep and uneven recession,” with national economies contracting due to
The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly driving the European Union into a “deep and uneven recession,” with national economies contracting due to widespread disruptions in work, daily life and the movement of goods, the European Commission said Wednesday. The EU economy is predicted to shrink by 7.5% in 2020 – far worse than the 2009 contraction of around 4.5% during the so-called Great Recession.
“The EU economy will experience a recession of historic proportions this year,” the commission said in its new economic forecast, which comes after weeks of economic shutdowns and social restrictions due to the coronavirus.
Those measures, and people’s fears of contracting the deadly virus, lopped off roughly a third of the EU’s economic activity “practically overnight,” according to European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni.
The fall reflects a turnaround of 9 percentage points since last fall’s forecast.
