“German economic output underwent a massive decline in the first quarter of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to contain it,” the Bundesbank notes in the current issue of the Monthly Report. Since these measures were still in place in April and substantial restrictions are likely to persist in spite of an easing in some cases, the experts expect economic output in the second quarter to be significantly lower still.

According to preliminary calculations by the German Federal Statistical Office, German economic output fell by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2020. “This was the largest decline since the global financial and economic crisis in 2008/09 and the second-largest decline since German unification,” the experts in Berlin said.

Nach ers­ten Be­rech­nun­gen des Sta­tis­ti­schen Bun­des­am­tes ist die deut­sche Wirt­schaftsleistung im ersten Quartal 2020 um 2,2 Prozent gesunken. „Das war der stärkste Rückgang seit der globalen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise 2008/2009 und der zweitstärkste Rückgang seit der deutschen Vereinigung“, teil­ten die Fach­leu­te in Ber­lin mit.