Eurozone enters deepest-ever recession

With the economy shrinking by 12.1 percent in the second quarter of the year, the Eurozone has entered the deepest recession in its history.

Economists had previously forecast widely differing falls in GDP of between 8 percent and 18.5 percent. The fall comes after a 3.8 percent drop in output during January to March as the region felt the impact of coronavirus.

The economy of Spain, one of the worst coronavirus-hit countries, shrank by 18.5 percent - the highest among Eurozone members, reports The Independent.

France also reported a precipitous 14 percent contraction during coronavirus lockdown in the second quarter.

The fall showed the severe economic impact of its two-month lockdown which has had a damaging effect on jobs and industries, forcing France to talk down possibilities of another nationwide shutdown.

Andrew Kenningham, the chief Europe economist at Capital Economics, said the newly released data confirmed that Eurozone GDP slumped just as much as feared in the second quarter but inflation remained well below target.

He said the recovery will be “painfully slow”.

Bangladesh feels the brunt

For the UK, the latest official figures showed a 25 percent plunge in GDP during March and April but there are signs that a partial recovery has begun.

Andy Haldane, the chief economist of the Bank of England, said earlier this month that the UK economy has recovered around half of its massive fall in output during 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 also been feeling the brunt of the coronavirus-induced economic hardship. All economic activities came to a grinding halt during the months of lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

Millions of people were left without jobs and businesses suffered much loss. Many small businesses were forced to shut down while the country’s leading foreign currency earner, the RMG sector, saw orders amounting to $3.18 billion either suspended or cancelled, plunging millions of workers, mostly women, into uncertainty.

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.