PARIS, Mar 21 (04:13 PM PKT)(XINHUA/APP): French Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt said on Friday that the country’s economy will achieve a growth of 6 percent this year as the government had forecast, despite the one-month lock-down imposed in many regions to contain the corona-virus resurgence.
“We have a 6-percent growth forecast… I remain convinced that (this rate) is achievable,” Dussopt told local broadcaster Europe 1. “We have economic indicators, which, despite the crisis and the difficulties, give us reasons for hope on the economic capacity to rebound,” he said. However, the massive restrictive rules that will start Friday midnight in 16 hardest-hit departments, including the main economic hub, the Paris region, would shave 0.2 percentage points off the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), he added.
Under the partial lock-down, non-essential shops will shut down and inter-regional travel is banned. The only authorized trips are for work when it cannot be done remotely, for medical emergency and for shopping or outdoor exercise within a 10-km radius from home.
In 2020, France’s GDP shrunk by 8.3 percent, the worst recession since World War II, as the pandemic was taking a heavy toll on economic activities, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
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