Covid-19: A comparative analysis of support measures in Germany, France, Italy and Spain

The fiscal response to the health crisis has been swift, substantial and multi-pronged. Emergency measures, seeking to cushion the recessive shock and facilitate economic recovery, have been joined by recovery packages that support the ongoing upturn and pave the way for future growth. There are, however, disparities between countries as to the sums involved and the distribution of the measures.

On our analysis, Italy has made the biggest effort, with a total running at 71% of GDP. It is followed by Germany, with 47%, Spain, with 31%, and France with 26%. As a percentage of GDP, Germany, France and Italy have made greater use of liquidity measures and guarantees, whilst Spain has focused on fiscal measures.

Short-term fiscal measures have, on average, been split fairly evenly between businesses and households. In order to underpin the recovery, Italy and Spain have favoured long-term measures, whilst France and Germany have concentrated on the shorter term.

Long-term measures are structured around four strategic directions: the environment, competitiveness, cohesion and health. In all four countries, the share devoted to the environment is the largest. The distribution between the environment, competitiveness and cohesion pillars is most equal in France. Germany, meanwhile, stands out for the size of its competitiveness programme and the relatively small size of its cohesion budget. In Spain, these two areas are given equal weight. In Italy, more has been allocated to cohesion than competitiveness. Lastly, investments in the health sector represent a not-insignificant share of long-term measures in Germany and Spain, but are relatively small in France and Italy.

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