PARIS—France is promising €45 billion ($50.16 billion) in immediate aid for businesses and employees hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which is slowing or shutting down swaths of the global economy. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking Tuesday morning in a radio interview, said that his provisional predictions show the response to the coronavirus will slash 1% from France’s gross domestic product in 2020. The government plans to present a revised budget law for 2020 with the new prediction later Tuesday, Mr.

Source: Wall Street Journal March 17, 2020 08:48 UTC