Bankruptcy wave, mass unemployment? That is how great the danger is in 2021

The bill is already huge: the corona pandemic has cost Germany 212,808,600,000 euros in prosperity so far.

Even if the worst is over by spring and the economy slowly recovers afterwards, at the end of the crisis it will be almost 179 billion euros more, for a total of a good 391 billion euros.

This was the result of calculations by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) for WELT AM SONNTAG.

The economists compared the actual and forecast growth with the so-called potential growth.

It shows how strong the German economy would have grown from 2020 to 2022 without the pandemic.

The sums sound high.

And at the same time low, if you consider what would have threatened the country, the companies and millions of workers without the billions in aid.

There should also be support in the second lockdown.

But it is already becoming apparent that this cannot be maintained forever.