Berlin (AFP)

Germany suffered a historic decline of 10.1% in its gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of restrictive measures put in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. , Destatis.

This is the "worst decline in the indicator since the start of quarterly GDP measurements in Germany in 1970", far more than the previous record of -4.7% in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the financial crisis , Destatis said in a statement.

Year on year, GDP fell by 11.7% in data adjusted for inflation.

"In the second quarter of 2020, both exports and imports of goods and services plunged massively", comments the institute.

The German economy has suffered a multifaceted shock: the confinement decreed from mid-March to May, in the face of the health crisis, paralyzed the production of many sectors, greatly slowed down trade and restrained consumption.

In April, at the height of the restrictions, manufacturing production, the mainstay of the euro zone's largest economy, experienced a historic drop of 17.9%. Industrial orders fell 25.8% and exports collapsed 31.1%.

Benefiting from a better health situation than that of its neighbors, Germany lifted most of its restrictive measures from May, allowing a resumption of its economic activity.

"We can now expect to catch up during the rest of the year" but the pace of which will depend on the health situation, said Jens Oliver Niklash, economist for the bank LBBW.

The German government expects growth to return no later than October, and a 5.2% rebound from 2021, as well as a return to pre-crisis production levels in 2022.

As a sign of stabilization, the unemployment rate in Germany remained at the same level in July as in June, at 6.4%, after three consecutive months of increase due to the economic crisis.

© 2020 AFP