"The economy is on red alert," said ZEW President Achim Wambach in a statement, adding that financial experts expect the economy to shrink in the first quarter and think a contraction is also very likely in the second quarter. POLICY SUPPORTJack Allen-Reynolds from Capital Economics said the ZEW survey pointed to a large decline in GDP. The ZEW figures suggested that the German economy could shrink by as much as 4% on the year in 2020, he said. In addition, the Federal Labour Office has reserves of 26 billion euros that can be used to help firms through short-time working schemes. The public health system has reserves of nearly 20 billion euros.

Source: bd News24 March 17, 2020 11:26 UTC