Slammed by virus, France unveils huge economic rescue plan

PARIS (AP) — Facing resurgent virus infections, France’s government unveiled a 100 billion-euro ($118 billion) recovery plan Thursday aimed at creating jobs, saving struggling businesses and yanking the country out of its worst economic slump since World War II.

The massive plan includes money to bring back manufacturing of medical supplies to French factories, develop hydrogen energy, help museums and the cinema industry, train young people for 21st century jobs and hire more staff at unemployment offices.

“It’s an important step for our strategy in the fight against the economic and social consequences of the crisis that hit France,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said.

The government spent hundreds of billions of euros in emergency aid as the virus sped across France and filled its once-renowned hospitals earlier this year, prompting a strict two-month lockdown that nearly froze the economy but slowed the spread of infections. More than 30,600 people with the virus have died in France, among the highest death tolls in Europe after Britain and Italy.

“France held on, but it is incontestably weakened,” Castex said, and now must pull itself out of “an extremely sudden and brutal recession.” The economy shrank 13.8% in the second quarter, which has torpedo’s President Emmanuel Macron grand mission to transform the French economy before his first term end in 2022.

France is again seeing a growth in infections after summer vacations, reporting more than 7,000 virus cases Thursday, the highest daily rate in Europe. That is also well above the several hundred cases a day reported in May and June, when France was emerging from lockdown and testing less. The number of people in intensive care with the virus is edging up, though is far from the crisis levels of March and April.

Despite the rise, France’s...