According to a preliminary flash estimate published by Eurostat, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 3.8% in the euro area and by 3.5% in the EU during the first quarter of 2020, compared with the previous quarter. These were the sharpest declines observed since time series started in 1995. Economists had expected a 3.5% decrease in the euro area. In March 2020, the final month of the period covered, COVID-19 containment measures began to be widely introduced by Member States. In the fourth quarter of 2019, GDP had grown by 0.1% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 3.3% in the euro area and by 2.7% in the EU in the first quarter of 2020, after +1.0% and +1.3% respectively in the previous quarter. These were the sharpest declines since the third quarter of 2009 (-4.5% for euro area and -4.4% for EU).