France's economy collapsed in the first quarter as the sharpest pace since the World War II as the spread of the coronavirus, or Covid-19, and the consequent lockdown hurt economic activity, Bank of France said Wednesday.
Gross domestic product shrunk 6 percent in the first quarter of this year, the bank estimated. That is the worst performance since 1945. The French economy had shrunk 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Another contraction in the first quarter would push the economy into a technical recession.
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