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PARIS: France's statistics office unveiled Wednesday survey data that shows there is a chance the country's economy could return to near pre-coronavirus levels by the end of the year.
INSEE released updated economic forecasts for the year that see a strong 19 percent rebound in gross domestic product in the quarter that begins in July and then a small increase in the fourth quarter.
Nevertheless, with the output lost during the lockdown that stretched from March into May, the French economy is heading for a nine percent drop for the year, "the strongest contraction since national accounts began to be compiled in 1948".