French lockdown still reducing economic activity by 35%: INSEE

PARIS (Reuters) – A country-wide lockdown in France is still reducing economic activity by 35% from normal levels despite a slight pick-up in the industrial and construction sectors, the INSEE official statistics agency said on Thursday.

Setting those two sectors aside, the estimate suggests that activity has yet to gain any momentum since the lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak was first imposed in mid-March.

Separately, INSEE’s monthly survey showed that business confidence fell in April to hit the lowest level since records began in 1980, falling to 62 points after 94 in March.