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The coronavirus epidemic has had less of an impact on the global economic than earlier financial and oil crises, Michel-Edouard Ruben of the Idea Foundation wrote in a recent report. Library picture: Michel-Edouard Ruben is seen speaking at a Delano event in October 2017. Photo credit: Maison Moderne 

GDP fell by 1.3% last year, compared to a 4.4% drop in 2009 after the global financial crisis in 2009 and a 6.6% fall in 1975 after the oil crisis saw prices quadruple.

Michel-Edouard Ruben, an economist with Idea, the Chamber of Commerce’s thinktank, points out that the country’s economy is structurally well suited to resisting this type of crisis compared to other European countries. He noted that GDP in the eurozone as a whole fell 6.6% last year.

Ruben added that early signs suggest the manufacturing and financial sectors had performed quite strongly in January and February, with signs of recovery in job creation and taxation income too.