Companies in Eastern Germany Less Threatened by the Coronavirus
Companies in eastern Germany now feel that their survival is less threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, according to an ifo Institute survey conducted in June 2021. Only 13.8 percent of the companies surveyed still said their business was at risk from the coronavirus pandemic. In February, 19.4 percent were fearing for their survival.
In eastern German industry, 8.9 percent of the companies surveyed in June said their survival was at risk from the coronavirus crisis and its consequences. In February, 12.2 percent of industrial companies were still affected. Nevertheless, eastern German industrial companies fear more for their continued survival than industrial companies in Germany as a whole (6.6 percent).
In the eastern German service sector, the number of companies that consider themselves at risk fell from 25 percent in February to 18 percent in June. In Germany as a whole, the threat to the survival of service providers was somewhat more pronounced in June, at 20.3 percent.
Eastern German trade recovered strongly: in June, only 8.3 percent of companies still said the coronavirus posed a serious threat. In February, the figure was 23.4 percent. Here, too, in Germany as a whole, the proportion of companies at risk of going out of business was slightly higher in June, at 10.4 percent.
Construction in eastern Germany bucked the trend: here, the proportion of companies whose survival was threatened increased compared to the previous survey, rising from 6.9 percent in February to 8.7 percent in June. In Germany as a whole, however, the threat to the survival of construction companies was lower in June, at 4.7 percent.
