Germany expects sharp recovery in economy in 2021

Germany's economy minister on Wednesday said the government is predicting a 6.3% drop in its GDP because of the new coronavirus pandemic, but is predicting a sharp recovery in 2021.

Peter Altmaier told reporters in Berlin that by the end of second quarter of 2020 the country was likely to see a contraction of about 11% of GDP before signs of improvement, due to widespread lockdown measures put in place to slow the spread of the new virus.

The country has already embarked upon cautious steps to relax those measures and Altmaier said he hoped the government will be able to move ahead with more normalisation of the economy if the initial steps aren't seen to have again significantly increased the rate of infections.

He said the country’s export-heavy economy has been significantly affected by the drop in demand for German products worldwide as other countries are also in deep recessions.

Despite short-term predictions of losses, Altmaier said projections indicated that in 2021 Germany would have economic growth of 5.2%, which will help make up lost ground in 2020.

He added that the current estimates are based upon Germany being able to move ahead with resuming more economic activity in May and June.

At least 160,479 infections of the new coronavirus have been recorded in the country, with 6,314 deaths, according to government figures.