Macro: COVID-19 Economic update euro area: Sentiment surveys first indications of the corona recession

The restrictive COVID-19 measures gradually implemented in Europe in recent weeks and the foreseeable deep fall into an "ordered" supply side recession have abruptly changed the economic environment within a very short time. The recently published "hard" economic data are largely meaningless in the current environment, as they describe a look back into a perceived distant past (January, February), in which the economic implications of Corona only played a role via indirect effects (mainly China). What lies ahead of us, however, is an unprecedented slump in economic data. Everyone knows it is coming, but no one can say with certainty how severe the recession will be (which depends largely on the duration and degree of economic constraints).

This Research was produced and first published by Raiffeisen Bank International AG which is supervised by the Austrian Financial Market Authority and the National Bank of Austria.