Paris (AFP)
The government now anticipates a fall in gross domestic product of 11% this year in France, against 8% so far, said Tuesday the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire.
"The economic shock is extremely brutal" but "I have the absolute conviction that we will rebound in 2021", said Bruno Le Maire on RTL. "We have a huge air gap" with this crisis, he added, repeating that according to him "the hardest part is before us".
The government will endorse this new estimate of the extent of the recession in a new draft amending budget to be presented to the Council of Ministers on June 10.
Last week INSEE had indicated that the fall in GDP would be much greater than the 8% anticipated by the government, since the recovery in activity since the start of deconfinement will be "at best gradual in the second half".
The Minister of Economy, however, is betting on support plans for the various sectors affected by the crisis (tourism, cars, aeronautics, etc.) and the recovery plan which will be announced in September to accelerate this recovery.
"We are taking all measures in all sectors", he assured, also citing a future plan for technology start-ups "so that they are not bought out one after the other by the digital giants" .
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