Eurozone Enters Deepest-Ever Recession

With the economy contracting by 12.1% in the second quarter of the year, the eurozone has reached the worst contraction of its history.

Previously, economists predicted a broad variety of GDP decreases between 8% and 18.5%. The decline comes after a 3.8% decrease in production between January and March, as the area felt the effect of coronavirus, reports UNB.

Spain 's economy, one of the worst coronavirus-hit nations, has contracted by 18.5 percent – the largest for eurozone participants, says The Independent.

France has announced a precipitous 14 percent contraction during the coronavirus lockdown of the second quarter.

The collapse revealed the negative economic effects of the two-month lockout, which had a crippling effect on employment and businesses, causing France to think of the risk of another national closure. 

Andrew Kenningham, Chief Europe Economist at Capital Economics, said the recently published data showed that eurozone GDP plunged just as much as expected in the second quarter, but inflation stayed far below target.

He said the recovery will be “painfully slow”.

Bangladesh feels the brunt

In the United Kingdom, the most recent government estimates revealed a 25 per cent decrease in GDP in March and April, but there are indications that a modest rebound has started.

Andy Haldane, Chief Economist of the Bank of England, reported earlier this month that the British economy regained about half of its huge decline in production after the coronavirus lockdown.

He said Britain has seen a V-shaped recovery. “We’ve seen a bounceback. So far, it has been a ‘V’. That of course doesn’t tell us about where we might go next,” he told parliament’s Treasury Committee.

Bangladesh has faced the brunt of the economic misery created by the coronavirus. In the months of the lockout, all commercial operations come to a halt despite the propagation of the virus.

Millions of individuals have been left without employment and companies have incurred a number of setbacks. Several small companies were forced to close down, as the country's largest foreign currency earner, the RMG market, had $3.18 billion in orders either halted or scrapped, leaving millions of employees, mainly women, in a state of confusion.

The government eventually moved to gradually open up the economy but the number of confirmed cases continues to rise, raising fears that worsening situation could force the country to go for another spell of lockdown which will be economically devastating.