This is another blow to the French economy as some neighboring countries reopen.
This Wednesday evening, Emmanuel Macron announced the extension of health restrictions to all departments as well as the closure of nurseries and schools for a period of three weeks.
Nicolas Barré takes stock of a current economic issue.
The measures announced on Wednesday to fight the pandemic are a blow to the economy and businesses, at a time when activity was picking up steam.
You are right, in recent weeks, the business climate and household morale have improved.
Economic life had adapted to curfew-type measures, with companies showing great agility.
In many sectors, we even found a normal or near-normal level of activity.
And then we must not forget that all of Asia has already started well, and this is driving the activity of many of our companies, in the luxury industry, it is spectacular, but also far beyond, equipment electrical to IT services etc.
The US economy has also picked up and all of this can be seen in the prospects announced recently by our largest companies: many of them have put the Covid crisis behind them.
It is harder for SMEs and commerce.
Much more !
And what changes everything is school.
Large groups know how to organize themselves and set up teleworking.
It is sometimes complicated, but manageable.
For many SMEs, on the other hand, it is a real nightmare, which is why they feared the closure of schools.
The OFCE, which is an economic research organization, calculated that the closure of schools reduced activity by 6% last spring.
Fortunately, the closure that has just been decided will be limited.
But it inevitably disrupts work: there are seven million households in France who have a child under the age of 15.
What is also hard for companies is the uncertainty over the date of return to normalcy.
It is the Chinese side of torture, the "stop and go" that we have been experiencing for a year.
The contrast is striking today with countries more advanced than us in vaccines, such as the United States or the United Kingdom.
Remember: as of February 22, Boris Johnson announced a first step out of confinement on March 29, it was this Monday, then the opening of pub terraces on April 12, restaurants and cinemas on May 17 etc.
It helps to have a schedule.
Emmanuel Macron knows it, he sketched it out this Wednesday, referring to the reopening of the terraces of bars and restaurants in mid-May.
But in the absence of certainty about the vaccines, it is difficult to be more precise.
A vagueness penalizing for economic activity.