Economic confidence collapsed in April in the euro area due to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for April is at 67.0 for the 19 countries that make up the euro area. This is a drop of 27.2 compared to March, according to results from a Commission survey.
The ESI is published monthly by the European Commission and is a composite indicator of industry, construction, services, consumer and retail trade confidence.
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"This was the strongest monthly decline in the ESI on record" since its creation in 1985, the Commission said.
For the EU-27 as a whole, the confidence index fell to 65.8 points, a drop of 28.8 points compared to March.
"The indicators are now far below their long-term averages of 100 and very close to the lowest levels registered during the Great Recession in March 2009," the Commission said.
"Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI crashed in the Netherlands (−32.6), Spain (−26.0), Germany (−19.9), and France (−16.3), while no data could be collected in Italy due to the strict confinement measures," according to the Commission.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
