[ad_1]
“The economic impact of the lockdown is more severe than we initially expected,” commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis mentioned in a press release. “We continue to navigate in stormy waters and face many risks, including another major wave of infections,” he added.
The outlook for the 19 international locations that use the euro was additionally downgraded. A contraction of 8.7% is now expected in 2020, a full proportion level extra than the earlier forecast.
“The scale and duration of the pandemic, and of possibly necessary future lockdown measures, remain essentially unknown,” the Commission mentioned, including that the draw back dangers to its forecast are “exceptionally high.” The enormous uncertainty additionally signifies that the financial system may bounce again extra strongly than expected.
The museum has misplaced €40 million ($45 million) in income since closing in March and expects its most every day capability through the summer season will be 10,000, or as little as 1 / 4 of the everyday quantity, the spokesperson mentioned.
EU restoration fund
The aid bundle would come on high of €540 billion ($592 billion) in present EU stimulus efforts, in addition to international locations’ personal help packages, and would be welcome aid to international locations together with Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, which rely extra closely on tourism and have been significantly onerous hit by the fallout from coronavirus.
The restoration fund may assist enhance the outlook for the area, in line with the Commission, which mentioned its forecast doesn’t keep in mind the proposed bundle as a result of it has not but been authorized by member states. EU leaders may hammer out an settlement after they meet on July 17 and July 18.
The new forecast gives a “powerful illustration” of the necessity for a deal on aid measures, Dombrovskis mentioned.
The decline in output and the energy of the rebound are “set to differ markedly” between international locations, in line with the Commission. It mentioned that there are “considerable risks” that cashflow difficulties “turn into solvency problems” for a lot of corporations and that the labor market suffers long term harm.
Italy, which has suffered the very best coronavirus dying toll in Europe, is expected to contract 11.2% this yr, the worst decline within the area. The nation’s GDP isn’t expected to return to final yr’s stage earlier than 2022, the Commission mentioned. The economies of France and Spain will additionally shrink by over 10%.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Portuguese counterpart, Antonio Costa, mentioned Monday that it is “essential” for EU international locations to shortly attain settlement.
“It is fundamental that the internal market starts working again, which is important not just for the countries most affected by the crisis, but also for those which benefit the most from the internal market, such as Germany … and the Netherlands,” mentioned Costa.
— Julia Horowitz, Vasco Cotovio, Laura Pérez Maestro, Pierre Bairin and Ivana Saric contributed reporting.
[ad_2]
Source link