Eurozone economy forecast to shrink 8.7% this year

The economy of the 19-country eurozone is forecast to shrink by 8.7 per cent this year as it suffers from the shutdown of business during the pandemic lockdown, the European Central Bank said Thursday

The central bank said it expects a rebound of 5.2 per cent in 2021 and 3.3 per cent in 2022. Bank head Christine Lagarde warned that “the speed and scale of the rebound are highly uncertain.” Lagarde offered the estimate at a news conference after the ECB said it was nearly doubling its pandemic emergency support program.