German economy to shrink 6.6 per cent in 2020, says Ifo

The German economy is set to contract by 12.2 per cent during the second quarter of 2020 and by 6.6 per cent over the course of the year, German economic institute Ifo has said.

The country’s economy, the largest in Europe, shrank 1.9 per cent in the first three months of this year, it said.

Ifo expects the economy to return to pre-crisis level at the end of 2021, far sooner than the 2023 date predicted for the UK by economists at EY Item Club yesterday.