German economy on recovery path after slump caused by COVID-19 crisis

BERLIN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The German economy was currently on a "recovery path" after a slump caused by the COVID-19 crisis and is expected to "grow steeply" in the third quarter of the year, Germany's central bank Deutsche Bundesbank said on Monday.

"Current indicators suggest that this upward movement is continuing during the summer months" in Germany, according to the bank's monthly report.

In the second quarter (Q2), German gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted by 10.1 percent compared to the previous quarter, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) recently said. It was the "largest decline since the beginning of quarterly GDP calculations for Germany in 1970."

In March and April, parts of the German economy had come to a stand-still as rising COVID-19 infections led to a partial lockdown and the closures of shops and factories in the country. The economic recovery began in May after the first restrictions were eased.

Germany's expansive monetary and financial policy measures and the economic stimulus package worth 130 billion euros (154 billion U.S. dollars), recently adopted by the German government, would "provide additional support to the economy," according to the Deutsche Bundesbank.

However, the bank's economists noted that the German economy would "still fall considerably short of its pre-crisis level for some time to come."

Forecasts for German GDP for the full year 2020 range between minus 6.3 percent, the official government forecast from April, and minus 9.4 percent which the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) projected in late June.