Fundació Impulsa, the joint business and government organisation for productivity and competitiveness, is pointing to a loss to the Balearic economy of 335 million euros since the state of alarm was declared and to negative growth in the first quarter. With the second quarter set to also show negative growth, the regional economy will be in recession.
Where Minorca is concerned, the technical director of the foundation, Antoni Riera, says that the foundation doesn't have the statistical tools to measure the impact on the island's economy, but he suggests that Minorca may be cushioned to a degree from the effects of recession because of the greater relative weight of non-tourism sectors - agriculture, construction, industry.
Professor Riera draws a comparison with the financial crisis in observing that islands with more tourism (Majorca most obviously) were able to leave recession earlier. Minorca joined the recovery later, but this time he believes that it will be the other way round. Tourism, he notes, "can only produce what is asked of it, while industry can produce without demand and then sell".