ifo Institute: Almost One-Quarter of Companies in Germany Need Liquidity Support
Many companies in Germany have taken liquidity support to help them through the coronavirus crisis. In May and in April, this was the case for 24 percent of companies, as shown by the ifo Institute’s Business Survey. Take-up was particularly high among companies in trade and the service sector, at 30 percent each; in manufacturing it was just 17 percent, while in construction it was a mere 5 percent. “The coronavirus crisis is hitting different industries in very different ways,” says ifo researcher Stefan Sauer.
Among the service providers, it was travel agencies and tour operators that were particularly hard hit, with 85 percent of them applying for support, along with 76 percent of hotels. The figure was 69 percent in restaurants and catering, 57 percent in the film industry, 54 percent in car rental, 49 percent in creative, arts, and entertainment activities, and 41 percent in advertising and market research. At the lower end were security and investigation activities, with 3.5 percent of companies receiving support.
In trade, a stark contrast can be observed between retail, at 41 percent, and wholesale, at 20 percent.
In manufacturing, the hardest hit are clothing manufacturers, at 42 percent, and metal production and processing companies, at 34 percent. In contrast, there was only little need for liquidity support in both in the chemical industry and in electrical equipment manufacturing, each at 7 percent.
