The impact of Covid-19 is mounting on the economy. The Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, repeated it on the microphone of RTL this morning, "the worst is before us" . In the meantime, the government is obliged to review all of its economic forecasts.
GROWTH: before the crisis, it was rather above the European average. For 2020, Bercy anticipated it at 1.4%%. The more the weeks pass, the more the executive is forced to degrade this objective. We are no longer talking about growth, but about recession. The most important since the 2nd World War, in the words of the tenants of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin. A month ago, this recession was forecast at 8%. The plunge in GDP was revised this Tuesday to 11%.
THE DEFICIT: The ambition in terms of public finances was important, balance at the end of the five-year period being the objective. Alas, it is now unattainable. In the latest amending finance bill, Bercy registered a public deficit of 9% and a public debt - which should have started to decline this year - of 115%. A completely new level, and which will be further degraded in the new 2020 budget text that the government will present on June 10 in the Council of Ministers.
UNEMPLOYMENT: The crisis has also thwarted the improvement on the employment front. On a downward slope since mid-2015, the unemployment curve could have approached the 7% that Emmanuel Macron had set himself as a target for 2022. Spread upwards, it should cross upwards the symbolic threshold of 10 %, said Monday the Minister of Labor, Muriel Pénicaud. "There are still three months," we had the green flashing lights to go towards the 7%, there we are moving away from it, " she said on Tuesday morning on BFMBusiness.