The Belgian economy shrunk by 6.3% in 2020. This amounts to the biggest post-war decline on record. A better-than-expected fourth quarter pushed the final numbers up somewhat and will have a positive effect on the yearly growth rate for the whole of 2021, which we see at 3.7%. Consumption suffered during the second lockdown at year’s end and is expected to dip again in April, as the government reinstated shopping on appointment only and instructed schools to extend the Easter holiday break. Unemployment increased significantly but less than was feared and the long-anticipated wave of bankruptcies hasn’t quite materialised so far. Tough choices lie ahead for the multi-party government, which should also focus on reining in its budget deficit in the years to come.
Portugal was one of the European countries hit hardest by the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic this winter. The government reinstated a “strict” lockdown that drastically reduced the spread of the virus. A very gradual reopening plan was launched on 15 March and will end on 3 May. Hopes for a solid economic recovery hinge on the vaccination campaign currently underway, but like elsewhere in the European Union, it is progressing at a slow pace. The success of the UK vaccination programme nonetheless raises promising prospects for the recovery of Portugal’s tourism sector, which is highly dependent on British tourists. Real GDP could rebound by as much as 5-5.5% in 2021, after contracting by 7.6% in 2020.
After a second, particularly long and severe wave of Covid 19 in late 2020, Sweden has been dealing with a third wave of the pandemic since mid-February. Although the vaccination campaign is unfolding satisfactorily, the resurgence of the pandemic risks pushing back the expected profile of the recovery. Monetary and fiscal policy will remain accommodating as long as necessary.
With relatively few deaths and only a mild decline in GDP in 2020, Denmark has been fairly resilient in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. To counter a second wave of the virus, more restrictive health measures had to be introduced in early 2021, which will push back the timing of the recovery, albeit without jeopardising it. With its vaccination campaign unfolding smoothly and the extension of fiscal support measures, the country is well positioned to exit the crisis. To better control the krone’s peg to the euro, Denmark’s central bank has made major adjustments to its monetary policy.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had a much smaller impact on the French labour market than on GDP. On an average annual basis, GDP growth plunged 8.2% while private payroll employment declined by only 1.7%. The unemployment rate even fell slightly compared to 2019 (-0.4 points on an average annual basis). Employment was buffered by emergency support measures, notably the massive use of job retention schemes, which is the main reason why the overall negative impact was so mild
The resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe has led to new health measures in most countries. Given this difficult situation, the eurozone economy sent some signs of improvement over the last three months, compared to the previous quarter...
In the northern European countries, the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 was one of the mildest in the European Union, with GDP contracting only about 3% in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, compared to a Eurozone average of more than 6%. To what extent has this enabled the economic agents of the Nordic countries to have greater confidence than their European neighbours? According to the latest European Commission surveys, the economic sentiment index picked up strongly in March 2021, a trend that can be seen in most of the European countries
The economic climate has slightly deteriorated in recent months according to the Pulse. The blue area in the chart shrank compared to the situation three months earlier. The main reason was the sharp fall in retail sales. This was partly due to the closure of non-essential shops since the middle of December...
The VVD (conservative free-market liberals) and D66 (social liberals) were the big winners at the general election held on 17 March, by gaining 35 and 23 seats, respectively. However, the CDA (Christian Democrats) lost heavily. The populist right won slightly as the losses at the PVV were compensated by a huge gain by the FvD, which had campaigned against the lockdown measures. The parties on the left suffered severe losses and tumbled from 37 seats in the old parliament to only 26. In particular, the losses of the Greens were surprising given the importance of environmental issues for the Dutch electorate. As the country has been going through the worst crisis since World War II, the formation of a new and stable government is highly desirable
Since dropping below 0% in 2015, the average deposit rate applied by Danish banks to the country’s non-financial companies (NFC) has continued to slide into negative territory (-0.47% in January 2021) as the banks recover the deposit facility rate applied by the Danmarks Nationalbank[1]. At the same time, the almost continuous increase in Danish NFC deposits outstanding was amplified in 2020 by public support measures to boost the liquidity of Danish companies during the health crisis. Similar measures were observed in the Eurozone member countries. The share of Danish NFC deposits with negative rates increased to 81.5% in October 2020
Proponents of debt cancellation programmes sometimes argue that public debt will never be paid off, but that is not the question. In France, public debt denominated in euros (or in euro-equivalent francs before 1999) has increased constantly throughout the post-war period, without anyone dreaming of cancelling it. The high growth and inflation rates of the Thirty Glorious Years worked their magic. Between 1945 and 1975, debt outstanding increased about 10-fold, with the franc’s depreciation bolstering the external component, while the debt ratio plunged from over 100% of GDP to less than 20%. In 2021, following a series of crises (the financial and euro crises, and then the Covid-19 crisis), debt has soared to peak levels again (117.8% of GDP according to European Commission estimates)
The financial cycle, as captured by bond and equity market developments is very much globally synchronised, but, at present, there is a business cycle desynchronization between the US and the euro area. Rising euro area government bond yields, on the back of higher US yields, cannot be considered as a sign of economic strength. Quite to the contrary, they come at a bad moment. One would expect, at a minimum, a very strong statement from the ECB’s Governing Council on 11 March on its decisiveness to act should yields continue to rise. Markets would of course prefer immediate action. After all, the tool –the PEPP- is available so one might as well step up its use.
We took away three key points from the detailed breakdown of the Q4 2020 quarterly accounts. First, households reported remarkable purchasing power gains in both Q4 2020 (+1.5% q/q, +1.9% y/y) and full-year 2020 (+0.6%), even though GDP contracted (-1.4% q/q, -4.9% y/y; -8.2% in annual average terms). The resilience of household purchasing power is largely due to emergency support measures...
Although our barometer generally improved in March, economic growth is set to remain weak in the first quarter of 2021. New car sales were still 40% lower in February 2021 than in February 2020, although the data can be volatile from a month to another...
Looking beyond the short-term economic shock, the Covid-19 pandemic and the exceptional health protection measures introduced to contain the virus raise many questions as to the lasting consequences of the crisis. The issue of zombie firms, which is far from new, has taken on a whole new dimension, as their weight in developed economies has progressively increased since the 1980s. Massive public interventions to tackle the effects of the pandemic, whether by governments – debt moratoriums, cancellations of employer social security contributions, widespread use of short-time working schemes, etc. – or by central banks – increase and prolongation of asset purchases schemes – could result in keeping non-viable companies afloat, raising fears of a zombification of economies.
In February, the economic climate has slightly deteriorated compared to the previous month. Our proprietary business climate indicator for Germany - the unweighted sum of the Pulse’s components - deteriorated slightly, to - 0.35 in February compared with -0.1 in the previous month. Since April 2020, the climate indicator has been in negative territory...
As shown in our barometer, manufacturing activity has continued to strengthen at the beginning of the year. The manufacturing PMI index reached 55.1 in January, the best reading since March 2018. Italian industry is probably benefiting from activity in the US, which is stronger than in Europe...
While the first repayments of State-Guaranteed Loans should take place at the end of March 2021, the amounts granted reached a cumulative sum of EUR 132.2 bn as of 12 February 2021 according to the Banque de France. Since their introduction, the SGLs have benefited more broadly the branches most penalised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, the accommodation and food service activities, which are still subject to administrative closures, are thus among those that have made the most intensive use of SGLs[1] in terms of amounts granted and number of beneficiaries. Our graph illustrates the general observation that the greater the drop in value added in 2020, the greater the use of SGLs
Recently, several calls have been made for the ECB to cancel part of its government debt holdings. Such an operation would violate the EU Treaty. On economic grounds, it is unnecessary, given that the interest paid on the debt to the ECB flows back to governments in the form of dividends. It would actually entail a cost: higher inflation expectations and/or a higher inflation risk premium would cause an increase in bond yields. The extreme nature of the measure could also undermine confidence. In reality, the very low levels of interest rates imply that governments have a lot of time to bring their finances in better shape
A robust and lasting normalisation of the economic situation will depend on gaining full control over the Covid-19 pandemic and on the renewed confidence of economic agents. Yet the Eurozone economy is struggling to recover in the midst of persistent lockdown measures and health restrictions. After a robust economic rebound in late spring 2020, the recovery phase has virtually levelled off thereafter.
Elections polls point towards a breakthrough by the Socialist Party and the far right to the detriment of the centre-right Ciudadanos party. Although political risks continue to persist in Catalonia today, the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 crisis could weaken the momentum for the pro-independence movement and increase support for the Central Government. The Covid-19 crisis has accentuated Catalonia’s dependence on the Central Administration and Europe more broadly.
The preliminary estimation for euro area inflation surprised to the upside, with annual core inflation reaching 1.4% in January. Monthly inflation was negative however, at -0.5%. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation data have become very noisy and hence more difficult to interpret. Survey data show rising input prices and lengthening of delivery times, which could exert some upward pressure on inflation. These factors should dissipate during the course of the year. Given the economic slack, any lasting pick-up in inflation should be a very gradual process.
The economic pulse for Germany highlights the dichotomy that characterises the economy at the moment. The lockdown announced in early November and drastically tightened in mid-December is heavily weighing on the household sector and services.
2020 closed with a quarter-on-quarter (q/q) fall in GDP of 1.3%, according to the first estimate of the Q4 national accounts published on Friday 29 January. This was a much smaller fall than expected (we had estimated -4% q/q, in line with INSEE and Banque de France estimates). The full year contraction in GDP was 8.3%. This good surprise came mainly from business and households’ investment and exports, which rose instead of falling as expected.
Italy is one of the rare European countries whose propagation of the epidemic is still under control at the end of January, although the situation is still very delicate. On top of these health uncertainties, political risk is also on the rise again.
