Italy's economy suffers steepest quarterly drop in 25 years amid COVID-19 crisis

As countries across the globe continue to bear the impact of deadly coronavirus outbreak, preliminary data revealed on April 30 has revealed that Italy’s economy plunged by 4.7 per cent in just the first quarter of 2020. Being one of the worst affected countries of COVID-19 outbreak, Italy has been under lockdown to curb the further spread of the disease that has resulted in the biggest quarterly collapse in its economy in at least 25 years. 

According to national statistics bureau ISTAT, the fall in Italy’s Gross Domestic Product in a quarter was the steepest since the current series had begun in 1995. This has reportedly left the third-largest economy in the eurozone in the recession which also witnessed a decline of 0.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2019. ISTAT also said that if the GDP is calculated on a year-on-year basis, the first quarter declined by 4.8 per cent.

Along with Italy, even Germany recently predicted that its economy would shrink by 6.3 per cent in 2020 because of the pandemic. According to reports, German finance minister Peter Altmaier also said on April 29 that it would be the biggest collapse in 50 years. Most world leaders are currently battling to find a balance between the plunging economy and flattening the curve of COVID-19 spread.

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Meanwhile, after being under strict lockdown for nearly two months, Italy is planning to gradually ease the restrictions and return life to normalcy as coronavirus cases drop. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on April 26 that the government is working in a bid to re-open one of the worst-hit countries of COVID-19 outbreak after May 4. Conte called it a “complex challenge” to cautiously ensure the businesses in the country resume without generating a second wave of infections. As of April 30, Italy has the third-highest death toll of the fatal disease in the world with 27,682  fatalities and 104,657 active COVID-19 cases.

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