Italy’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted 8.8% in 2020 compared to the previous year due to the coronavirus pandemic, reported this Tuesday the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in its preliminary data.

The fall, however, is less than the 9% expected by the Government in its last update of the Document on Economy and Finance (Def).

In the fourth quarter, the Italian GDP fell by 2% compared to the previous three months and the 6,6% compared to the same period of the previous year.

According to the ISTAT, the contraction is due to the synthesis of a decrease in added value in all the main productive sectors, that is, agriculture, forestry and fishing, industry and services.

The ISTAT highlighted that the Italian economy registered, after the robust recovery of the third quarter, a new contraction in the fourth quarter “Due to the effects of the new measures adopted to contain the health emergency”.

Restaurant in Trastevere after coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions were eased in the Lazio region, Rome, Italy, February 1, 2021. REUTERS / Guglielmo Mangiapane

Restaurant in Trastevere after coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions were eased in the Lazio region, Rome, Italy, Feb 1, 2021. 

According to their estimates, the variation in GDP for 2021, if that of the four quarters of the year were equal to zero, could be at a 2.3% rise.

The institute announced that the final annual results for 2020 will be released on March 1, while the quarterly results will be presented on March 3.

According to the latest Bank of Italy estimates, Italy’s economy would also have fallen by 9.2% in 2020, while it will grow 3.5% in 2021.

Italy, the first European country to be hit by the COVID-19 disease, has recorded almost 89,000 deaths since its outbreak nearly a year ago, the second highest number of deaths on the continent and the sixth highest in the world.

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