France’s third lockdown set to cost its economy £12bn in just four weeks with output expected to fall 7%
France is facing a £12.8billion hit to its economy after President Macron plunged the nation into its third lockdown, analysts have warned.
The country is struggling to cope with a rapid rise in more contagious variants of Covid-19, intensified by a disappointing vaccine rollout.
Experts at investment bank Berenberg think the latest restrictions, which are due to last four weeks, will wipe around 7 per cent off France’s output while they are in place.
President Macron (pictured) has plunged France into lockdown as it struggles to cope with a rise in more contagious Covid variants, intensified by a disappointing vaccine rollout
This would cost France’s €2.3 trillion economy between €10billion and €15billion in lost growth.
Christopher Dembik, an economist at Berenberg, said: ‘Macron had long shied away from a stricter lockdown in order to prevent a new decline in economic activity.
But the surging infections numbers left him little choice in the end. Even with a strong rebound in activity from early May onwards, the tighter April lockdown will weigh heavily on the second-quarter average for GDP.’
France’s latest lockdown will see non-essential shops close, travel within the country will be limited, and the 7pm to 6am curfew will continue.
Unlike the nation’s October-November lockdown last year, schools will also close for at least three weeks.
Dembik added: ‘Mass vaccination is the only way to bring economic recovery to France.’
After a slow start, vaccinations have been picking up. The country was averaging 150,000 jabs per day in late February – that had risen to 343,000 on March 30.
The UK administered almost 500,000 Covid vaccinations on March 30.