The Impact of the Corona Pandemic on Economic Sectors in 2020 in Eastern Germany and Germany as a whole

All economic activities in 2020 were strongly influenced by the course of the Corona pandemic. Using the ifo Institute's monthly business surveys, we look at how companies in different sectors of the economy were affected in all of and eastern Germany between April and November 2020. Our results show that the first wave of the pandemic affected companies the most in 2020. However, eastern German firms were only affected by Corona to a below-average extent in the spring. In the summer, companies in eastern and overall Germany assessed their situation as significantly better. From October onwards, we note an above-average burden of Corona on eastern German companies. In Germany as a whole, by contrast, the recovery trend continued at the start of the second wave.