The savings generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consumption deficit will reach 165 billion euros for 2020-2021, estimates the governor of the Banque de France.

If the current restrictions do not last beyond May, the French economy is expected to grow above 5% for the whole of 2021, he added.

The additional savings due to the consumption deficit induced by the Covid-19 epidemic will reach 165 billion euros for the years 2020 and 2021, estimated on Tuesday the governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau.

"Covid savings, we estimate it at 110 billion for 2020 and we forecast that this year will add about half, 55 billion. In total, that makes a kind of growth reserve of around 6 or 7% of the GDP ", he declared on France Culture.

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"The absolutely key factor for this savings to turn into expenditure and more direct support for activity from next year is confidence," he added.

François Villeroy de Galhau specified that this confidence should be both health and economic, "with a certain number of reassurances, of clarifications that are given to the French to encourage them to use their savings".

Towards pre-crisis economic growth?

Following the latest economic report published on Monday by the Banque de France, its governor also confirmed on Tuesday the growth forecast for the French economy for 2021. "If the current additional restrictions do not last beyond the month May, we should have for the French economy a growth of more than 5% over the whole of 2021 ", he declared.

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"This means that the French economy will grow significantly more than the European average this year" which is "at 4%", welcomed the governor, who foresees that the French economy, which has experienced a historic recession of 8 , 2% in 2020, may return to its pre-crisis level by mid-2022.