Europe has already started to estimate the impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Europe’s economy has fallen off a cliff and at the moment, it is on the edge of a grave recession. Moreover, the latest data only worsen the grim situation. In April, the already weak business activity in the eurozone crashed to 13.5 points from 29.7 points. It was the worst month in the PMI survey’s history. The effect from the containment measures is most keenly felt in the services sector, where it is almost impossible to avoid social interaction. Restaurants, hotels, beauty salons, sports clubs, and amusement parks, which correspond to a significant part of the eurozone economy, were closed because of the rapid virus spread. The situation is also deteriorated by the fact that economists cannot predict when the services sector will be reopened. Analysts at Oxford Economics said that the consequences of the restrictive measures turned out to be more disastrous than they had expected. Even the government aid programs for businesses and people will hardly lessen the impact. According to some optimistic forecasts, in May, economic conditions could slightly improve due to the soft loosening of the current restrictions.
