GERMANY’S PLUNGING INTO RECESSION DRAGS OTHER EU COUNTRIES

The German economy, the biggest in the European Union (EU) contracted by 2.2% in the first quarter of this year, the biggest contraction since the global financial pandemic centered in the U.S. in 2007, raising fears that a financial contagion may sweep through the 26-member political and trading bloc.

Berlin’s performance was actually a tad better than other economies as the United Kingdom’s growth went south by 2%, France skidded by 5.8% and Spain sputtered at 5.2% for the same quarter.

Writing for the Business insider,  Shalini Nagarajan said Germany’s statistics agency, Destatis, said “the corona pandemic hits the German economy hard. Although the spread of the coronavirus did not have a major effect on the economic performance in January and February, the impact of the pandemic is serious for the 1st quarter of 2020."

Germany added 147,000 people into the labor pool during the same period on top of the 43 million working in the country and the EU but household expenditures dropped sharply in the first three months of the year, while exports and imports saw strong declines in the fourth quarter of 2019. #coronavirusimpact #COVID19