BERLIN: The German economy contracted by 10.1pc in the second quarter, its steepest plunge on record, as household spending, business investment and exports collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary data showed on Thursday.

"This was the sharpest decline since the quarterly GDP calculations for Germany began in 1970," the statistics office said.

On the year, gross domestic product in Europe's largest economy declined by 11.7pc from April to June, seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected national output to shrink by 9.0pc quarter-on-quarter and a 11.3pc contraction year-on-year in seasonally adjusted terms.