BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2021) The economy of the European Union is expected to renew its growth this spring, Valdis Dombrovskis, the executive vice president of the European Commission for an economy that works for people, said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament, the executive vice president said that while there are still some tough months ahead there are also reasons for cautious optimism.
"It's still, of course, subject to high uncertainty but growth should resume in spring and gather pace in the second half of the year," Dombrovskis said.
At the same time, the official praised the budgetary measures adopted to soften the blow from the pandemic in 2020.
"We estimate that fiscal and liquidity measures cushioned the GDP contraction in 2020 by around 4.5 percentage points," Dombrovskis stated.
The coronavirus pandemic has crippled national economies of many countries across the globe, which found themselves severely unprepared to handle the economic downturn caused by the current crisis.
According to the EU statistical office, Eurostat, the bloc's GDP dropped by 6.2 percent last year.
