Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated that the French government has provided 240 billion euros ($283 billion) in financial assistance to companies that have been harmed by the coronavirus epidemic since March 2020, the majority of which has taken the form of state-guaranteed loans.
French GDP shrank by 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to updated official statistics released in May 2021. France is the second-largest economy in the euro zone.
When compared to the same time last year, France’s GDP grew by 15 percent in the first half of August, according to the country’s finance minister. He reaffirmed the government’s six percent growth goal for the year 2021 as well as for the whole year.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the Banque de France confirmed a positive economic trend in the country in its monthly economic report, which was released on Monday. This was primarily due to continued improvement in the hotel, restaurant, transportation, leisure, and cultural activities sectors. After a return to normalcy in July, the services sector, which had been the most affected by the restrictions, was “growing substantially.”
After the epidemic has taken its toll on domestic economic activity, France’s GDP is expected to contract by 8% in 2020, marking the country’s worst recession since World War II.
