Euro zone companies see productivity boost from pandemic: ECB survey

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone companies expect to emerge more efficient from the coronavirus pandemic thanks to greater use of digital technologies and remote working, a European Central Bank survey showed on Monday.

The ECB asked 72 industrial and services firms about the long-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the way they operate and the business environment around them.

They found firms expected home office, virtual meetings and digitalisation to remain part of their daily life even after the pandemic.

Graphic: Main long-term effects of the pandemic reported by leading companies – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/oakpejlaovr/ECB%20long-term%20impact%20of%20covid19.png

This was seen helping boost productivity while demand remained subdued.

Graphic: How respondents saw the long-term effect of the pandemic on business aggregates – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/xlbpgmxowpq/ECB%20Testing%20narratives%20in%20relation%20to%20the%20long-term%20effects%20of%20the%20pandemic.png

Some of the narratives that had emerged in the early part of the outbreak, such as expectations that companies will internalise or localise part of their supply chain, had fallen out of favour.

Graphic: Testing narratives in relation to the long-term effects of the pandemic – https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/rlgpdqblavo/Testing%20narratives%20in%20relation%20to%20the%20effects%20of%20the%20pandemic.png