The French government wants the majority of retail outlets to reopen once a nationwide Coronavirus lockdown is lifted on May 11

FRENCH Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said today that the government wants all retail outlets other than restaurants and bars to be able to reopen once a nationwide lockdown is lifted on May 11.

The government has also said that not all businesses will be able to go back to work immediately once the lockdown, in place since mid-March ends.

“We want all retailers to be able to open on May 11 in the same way out of fairness,” said Le Maire, adding that it remained to be seen whether that would be possible nationwide or only region by region.

“I would only set aside restaurants, bars and cafes,” he said.

The retail sector is among the hardest hit by the government-imposed closure of non-essential activities.

The lockdown is still cutting economic activity by 35 per cent more than a month since it was imposed, despite a slight pick-up in the industrial and construction sectors, the INSEE official statistics agency said.

Setting those two sectors aside, the estimate suggests that activity has yet to regain any momentum.

France has suffered the world’s fourth-highest reported Coronavirus death toll at more than 20,000, with more than 158,000 infections.