France’s INSEE confirms forecast of 9% GDP drop in 2020

France’s INSEE official statistics agency confirmed on Tuesday a forecast of a 9% drop in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. French economic activity should run at 95% of pre-epidemic levels in the third quarter and at 96% of pre-outbreak levels in the fourth, INSEE added. In Q1 2020, GDP in volume terms fell sharply: –5.8%, the biggest drop in the series’ record, since 1949. In particular, it is bigger than the ones recorded in Q1 2009 (–1.6%) or in Q2 1968 (–5.3%). GDP’s negative evolution in Q1 2020 is primarily linked to the shut-down…