2020: a dark year for Monaco’s economy

Sophie Vincent, Director of the Monegasque Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (IMSEE), presented the latest economic report during a press conference this Monday 22 March. 

After the presentation of these discouraging figures, Minister of Finance and the Economy Jean Castellini and Health Minister Didier Gamerdinger highlighted the measures taken by the Prince’s Government to support and revive the Principality’s economy.

A big blow for Monaco’s hotels

Even if the summer period and the end of year festivities allowed a recovery of activity and a rebound for most indicators, last year remains exceptionally bad for the economy. For example, the hotel occupancy rate fell from 65.9% in 2019 to 28.5% in 2020. In the transport sector, air traffic showed significant decline, particularly in terms of passenger numbers. New car registrations and public car parks revenues are also down. The real estate market declined both in terms of sales and resales.

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When it comes to foreign trade, the overall volume of trade (excluding with France) is down by 38% compared to 2019 and is back to its 2016 level, while turnover is down by 1.18 billion euros (-7.8%). The most significant decline is in accommodation/catering (-48.1%) and other services (-40.9%). Moreover, the private sector experienced experienced a decrease of 2.7% compared to December 2019, and there were 80 million hours worked in 2020, 14 million less than the previous year.

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