The coronavirus pandemic has tipped Germany into recession, official data showed Friday, with Europe's top economy suffering its steepest quarterly contraction in more than a decade as lockdown measures began to bite.
The German economy shrank by 2.2 percent in the first three months of 2020, federal statistics agency Destatis said, calling the quarter-on-quarter decline "the worst since the global financial crisis" in 2009.
The agency also revised down its gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the final quarter of 2019, from zero growth initially to a contraction of 0.1 percent. That means Germany has now experienced two consecutive quarters of decline, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
The worst is yet to come however, with economists warning that the full impact from the coronavirus restrictions will be felt in the second quarter. The German government expects GDP to shrink by a record 6.3 percent in 2020, a bigger contraction than during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
But there are glimmers of hope on the horizon, with experts saying Germany is well positioned to weather the storm.
The country's first quarter slump is smaller than steep GDP plunges seen in France, Italy and Spain, which have been hit harder by the virus and imposed far stricter shutdowns.
On average, output in the 19-nation eurozone shrank by 3.8 percent in the first quarter, Eurostat confirmed Friday.
Looking ahead, Berlin predicts the German economy will bounce back in 2021 and grow by 5.2 percent as the virus impact wanes and businesses reopen.
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