BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government’s council of economic advisers said on Wednesday they expected Europe’s largest economy to shrink by roughly 2% in the first quarter of this year due to lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council cut its full-year 2021 gross domestic product growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.7% previously. It expects the economy to reach its pre-crisis level at the turn of the year 2021/22 and to grow by 4% next year.
“The biggest down-side risk remains the development of the coronavirus pandemic. The question how quickly the economy can get to normal mainly hinges on the vaccination progress,” the council said in a statement.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
