A couple, wearing face masks, walks in front of the Palazzo Chigi Government office in Rome, lit with the color of the Italian flag on November 1, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Italy's virus-stricken economy shrank by 8.9 percent last year, national statistics office Istat said Tuesday.

The fall is slightly less than that predicted by the Bank of Italy and the International Monetary Fund, but still represents the biggest contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) since the end of World War II.