PARIS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- France's gross domestic production (GDP) shrunk by 8.3 percent in 2020 as the coronavirus epidemic has taken a toll on domestic economic activities, the national statistics institute INSEE said on Friday.
In the last three months of 2020, the country's GDP in volume fell by 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter after an 18.5-percent jump in the third quarter. "The loss of activity this quarter was marked by the lockdown in effect from the end of October to mid-December and by the curfew put in place during the months of October and December," said INSEE.
In the first and second quarters, the French economy fell by 5.9 percent and 13.7 percent quarter-on-quarter respectively.
France was in a national lockdown from March 17 to May 11 to contain the first wave of the epidemic. At the end of October, it went into a less-stricter lockdown to battle the resurgence of virus infections.
In the fourth quarter, "the total loss of activity was much more moderate than during the first lockdown... GDP was 5.0 percent below its level a year earlier, whereas the year-on-year decline was 18.8 percent in the second quarter," said INSEE. Enditem
