The European economic system shrank by a smaller than anticipated 0.7% within the final three months of 2020 as companies in France and Germany weathered a renewed spherical of anti-COVID-19 lockdowns considerably higher than anticipated.
That comfort in official figures launched Tuesday could not erase a gloomier outlook for this yr, because the 19 international locations that use the euro are anticipated to lag China and the U.S. in bouncing again from the worst of the pandemic.
For the yr, the eurozone shrank 6.8%, in line with EU statistics company Eurostat.
The expansion figures underscored a rollercoaster yr of freakish financial information, with a plunge of 11.7% within the second quarter, the most important since statistics began in 1995, adopted by a rebound of 12.4% within the third quarter in late summer time. The winter wave has meant new restrictions on journey, enterprise and exercise, however corporations in some sectors equivalent to manufacturing have been higher in a position to alter than providers companies equivalent to lodges and eating places.
The German economic system, Europe’s greatest, grew by a scant 0.1% whereas France noticed a smaller than anticipated drop of 1.3%. General, economists had anticipated a drop within the eurozone of as a lot as 2.5% as not too long ago as mid-January.
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