"In the third quarter of 2020, the easing of restrictions measures allowed a slight upturn in activity and the decline in growth was less pronounced than in the previous quarter. This development is due to the 9% drop in non-agricultural value added, instead of -15.5% a quarter earlier", said the HCP which published its report on the Q3 economic situation and outlook for Q4.

In the secondary sector, the decline in activity was limited, standing at -8.5% instead of -17.3%, said the same source, specifying that in a context of production prices' drop for the second consecutive quarter, the manufacturing industry continued to suffer from poor domestic demand and decline in exports.

With the exception of the chemical industries and, to a lesser extent, that of the food industry, order books, particularly foreign ones, were poorly filled, in particular for aeronautics and electronics. The building and civil engineering sector also continued to suffer from the drop in demand for residential real estate.

The said report also showed that the increase in mining value added was moderated in Q3-2020, amounting to 2.8%, instead of 7.9%. The strengthening of demand from local processing industries is still going on, while exports of crude minerals, notably phosphate, were relatively impacted in the third quarter of 2020.

The fall in international prices for agricultural products, especially corn, weighed on demand from the chemical industries in the United States and Europe. Excluding raw phosphate, mining production was particularly boosted by the resumption of other activities in the extractive industries, in particular those of stones for construction and industry and those of sand and clay, after a decline of 15.1% and 14.6%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2020.

Regarding tertiary activities, they continued their downward trend, contributing -4.7 points to the evolution of overall GDP, instead of -7.7 points in the second quarter of 2020. The loss of activity was cushioned with regulatory relaxations and the supervised reopening of shops, interurban transport and restaurants.

The tourism sector, for its part, has reportedly recovered slightly following the lifting of restrictions on domestic travel, but it has continued to suffer from the decline in the flow of foreign tourists and the decline in travel receipts, HCP reported, adding that non-market services, especially social services, have remained relatively dynamic.

In addition, the agricultural value added would have contracted by 6.2% in Q3-2020, in annual variation, instead of -6.8% a quarter earlier. The spread of the effects of lockdown, particularly significant in the second quarter of this year, with a loss of 477,000 agricultural jobs, have diminished.

According to the 2nd panel survey on the impact of the novel coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic on the economic, social and psychological situation of households, carried out by the HCP, 32% of farmers on stoppage of work during the lockdown have resumed their activities at the end of June.