ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s main business association said on Thursday it saw the country’s industrial production falling as much as 15% in the second quarter of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak, after an 11-year record drop in the first three months of 2020.
Confindustria said output in the first quarter of the year was expected to be 5.4% lower than the previous quarter, with output in March down 16.6% compared with February, due to the coronavirus emergency and the linked lockdown measures.
Italy, the epicentre of the virus outbreak in Europe, was the first Western country to introduce sweeping bans on movement and economic activity, having first confirmed the presence of coronavirus almost six weeks ago.
“Covid-19 has hit Italian and international production systems all of a sudden, with a destructive strength and in a widespread manner,” Confindustria said in its report.
On Tuesday the association said the coronavirus crisis would bite as much as 6% off Italy’s gross domestic product this year.
(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, writing by Giulia Segreti)
