ALBAWABA — The ongoing unrest in France, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager last Tuesday, dubbed the France riots, has already cost the French economy some $1.1 billion (€1 billion) in damages by July 4, news agencies reported.
Protestors have looted 200 stores and destroyed 300 bank branches and 250 corner shops, a spokesperson for the French business association, MEDEF, told CNN.
Meanwhile, French insurance companies have so far received around 5,900 claims worth $305 million in total, as reported by Bloomberg.
The last major riots in France erupted in 2008, and resulted in $223.4 million in claims, according to Florence Lustman, chair of the French insurers’ lobby, France Assureurs.
Speaking at a financial forum in Paris on Tuesday, Lustman said that some 10,000 claims for damages were filed in the wake of the 2005 riots, some 18 years ago.
Insurers will partially cover damage claims from France riots
Today’s claims are likely to total less than $1.1 billion estimate, according to DBRS Morningstar, a credit ratings agency.
“We believe total insured losses for the French insurance industry should remain well below the €1 billion mark,” the agency stated in a note that was obtained by CNN on Tuesday.
The French government bears partial liability for some of the losses, while many firms will not be fully compensated for their losses, DBRS Morningstar said.
French President Emmanuel Macron met Tuesday with the mayors of the 241 municipalities where the protests erupted.
He promised them his “total support” and said he believed the “peak” of the violence has passed, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Riots erupted in a number of municipalities across France, including districts inside and outside of Paris, but the heaviest concentration of violence was in Nanterre, west of Paris.
