Covid-19, Lack of Intermediate Products, and Bad Weather Cost Some EUR 50 Billion in Economic Output
The coronavirus pandemic, production constraints in industry, and cold weather at construction sites cost Germany around EUR 50 billion in economic output in the first quarter, according to an ifo Institute estimate. The German Federal Statistical Office published a contraction of 1.7 percent in economic output for that period. “This estimate is of course subject to a high degree of uncertainty. It assumes that with no crisis, the German economy would have grown by an average of 1.25 percent per year,” says Timo Wollmershäuser, Head of Forecasts at ifo. He put the total shortfall in German economic output from March 2020 to March 2021 at around EUR 240 billion.
The coronavirus pandemic, production constraints in industry, and cold weather at construction sites cost Germany around EUR 50 billion in economic output in the first quarter, according to an ifo Institute estimate. The German Federal Statistical Office published a contraction of 1.7 percent in economic output for that period. “This estimate is of course subject to a high degree of uncertainty. It assumes that with no crisis, the German economy would have grown by an average of 1.25 percent per year,” says Timo Wollmershäuser, Head of Forecasts at ifo. He put the total shortfall in German economic output from March 2020 to March 2021 at around EUR 240 billion.
