Real GDP declined significantly for the April-June quarter of 2020 to 10 percent lower than the pre-pandemic level (the 2019 average) but recovered to just 2.4 percent lower for the October-December quarter.
Governments in several euro-area countries adopted measures to cushion the impact of surging energy prices on households’ and businesses’ budgets. Italy is one of them. Less affluent households, which have a relatively larger share of consumption devoted to energy, benefitted comparatively more.5 Sizeable funds have also been allocated to supporting gas-intensive companies.