Europe to enter ‘recession of historic proportions’ amid coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic is plunging the European Union into a recession, the European Commission said Wednesday in its spring economic forecast. Predicting a “recession of historic proportions,” the commission warned that the Eurozone economy will contract by 7.5 percent in 2020 — a record number that surpasses the damage caused by the 2009 financial crisis. …

The coronavirus pandemic is plunging the European Union into a recession, the European Commission said Wednesday in its spring economic forecast.

Predicting a “recession of historic proportions,” the commission warned that the Eurozone economy will contract by 7.5 percent in 2020 — a record number that surpasses the damage caused by the 2009 financial crisis.

The commission also forecasts that the unemployment rate in the EU will increase from 6.7 percent to 9 percent in 2020.

The EU economy is not expected to make up for this year’s losses even by the end of 2021, as investment will likely remain subdued and the labor market will not have fully bounced back, the report warns.

“Europe is experiencing an economic shock without precedent since the Great Depression,” European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said of the grim forecast.

“Both the depth of the recession and the strength of recovery will be uneven, conditioned by the speed at which lockdowns can be lifted, the importance of services like tourism in each economy and by each country’s financial resources.”

“Such divergence poses a threat to the single market and the euro area – yet it can be mitigated through decisive, joint European action. We must rise to this challenge,” he continued.

Europe’s currency, the euro, tumbled Wednesday to its lowest level against the dollar in weeks following the report’s release — only rising slightly to trade at $1.0812. Last week, the euro lost 3.5 percent against the US dollar, and analysts fear further losses.

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