The French economy shrank around six per cent in the first quarter of this year as the coronavirus pandemic decimated business activity. The Bank of France said today that it was the worst performance since 1945.

Official figures showed that the economy shrank 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2019. It meant that with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, the country is now technically in recession.

The French central bank said that in the last two weeks of March, as the coronavirus crisis deepened, economic activity plunged 32 per cent.

For every two weeks the country is locked down by the virus, the Bank of France expects the economy to shrink by 1.5 per cent. The current lockdown began March 17 and has been extended by two weeks to 15th of this month.