The official French statistics office INSEE confirmed a deep recession last year due to the pandemic, with the total decline in output reaching 8.3 percent. Initially, the decline was estimated at 9.0, however, the French economy managed to recover in the latter part of 2020.
"The loss of economic activity was much more modest than that of the first round in March-May 2020", INSEE said.
French Economy Plunges Into Deep Recession Due to COVID-19 Fallout
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However, according to the report, in the fourth quarter alone, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was down 5.0 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.
While in 2019 France was among Europe's leaders in terms of economic growth, showing a 1.5% rise, the 2020 downturn is the worst recession in France since World War II.