German economy will fall below the level seen after the second world war,..

Berlin: – A European study group issued a serious warning that the German economy will slide to the lowest level, worse than the state after the second world war, because of crashing exports, in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. Study group ‘Institute for Economic Research’ (IFO) has said that the German economy has declined by 1.9% in the first quarter of the year and predicted that it will slide by 6.6% in the whole year. Germany is the biggest economy in Europe, ranked fifth in the world and is considered the backbone of the European economy.

The German economy is export-based and excepting foodstuff and medical supplies sectors, all the other exports are at a standstill, in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, all the businesses related to tourism, entertainment and air travel are entirely closed. The automobile industry, which is the backbone of the German economy, also is nearly closed. IFO has expressed a concern that all these factors have affected the German economy.

The German economy has declined by 1.9% for the January to March quarter, of the current year and IFO warned that it would crash by almost 12% in the April to June quarter. After a humiliating defeat in the Second world war, the German economy had started rapidly declining. The German economy had hit rock bottom by the year 1949. Thereafter, the German economy has reached the lowest levels, once again, because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The study group also predicted that it will be 2021, by the time the German economy is back on track.

There was a delay in announcing the lockdown to fight the Coronavirus pandemic, in Germany. This brought the German economy to a grinding halt. Therefore, to provide certain impetus to the German economy, some of the restrictions were relaxed in the last week. As of now, there are more than 150,000 cases of Coronavirus in Germany and more than 6,000 deaths have been reported from the country.

Germany is known as the oldest and strongest partner of China, in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had taken the initiative to improve cooperation with China. But now, even Chancellor Merkel has started raising doubts regarding the Chinese role in the Coronavirus pandemic. She had made a demand that China Should be transparent in this matter.