Eurozone: At the deepest economic slump in its history. Lithuania had the smallest decline

The Corona pandemic has caused the most severe economic slump in the history of the Eurozone in 2020.

Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 6.8 per cent, the biggest drop since records began in 1996, a second estimate by EU statistics agency Eurostat confirmed on Tuesday. Employment also fell by 1.8 per cent year-on-year in 2020.

Compared to the previous quarter, seasonally adjusted GDP fell by 0.6 per cent in the euro area and 0.4 per cent in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Eurostat. In Austria, the decline was 4.3 per cent – the largest minus among the EU states from which data was also available.

Figures were missing for Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia. In Germany, there was minimal growth of 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter, in Italy a minus of 2.0 per cent and in France the economy shrank by 1.3 per cent.

Austria also did not fare well in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the Eurozone and the EU, the minus was 5 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively – the Alpine Republic recorded a decline of 7.8 per cent, only in Spain was the minus greater, at 9.1 per cent. Germany shows a minus of 3.9 per cent to the fourth quarter of 2019. In Italy, the GDP decline was 6.6 per cent, in France 5.0 per cent.

Lithuania had the smallest decline with a 1.3 per cent drop in GDP.

Source: apa