Apr 29, 2020 - World

Over 4 million Italian workers apply for coronavirus relief funds

Orion Rummler

In this image, a person walks down a stone hallway — A woman at the Piazza Navona in Rome on April 29. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images

Over 4 million workers have applied to Italy's national welfare agency to get €600 payments (roughly $650) for wages lost due to the country's stay-at-home order, the agency tweeted on Wednesday.

The big picture: Italy plans to phase out of the world's longest-running coronavirus lockdown next week. As factories and construction sites reopen, the country will have to keep infections down to prevent another novel coronavirus spike.

Where it stands: The agency initially predicted that 2.3 million people would apply to the fund, Reuters reports. 630,000 applications for financial help are currently being verified, tweeted the agency, INPS.

Italy's unemployment rate is expected to hit 11% this year, per Statista.
Bloomberg Economics forecasts a 13% shrinkage in the country's GDP this year, while the government predicts the GDP will contract by 8%.

Go deeper: Italy reports lowest single-day coronavirus death toll since March 12

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Over 4 million Italian workers apply for coronavirus relief funds

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