German economy gradually recovering after pandemic slump: Ifo

Germany’s economy will gradually recover after an historic slump due to the coronavirus pandemic and will likely return to last year’s level at the end of 2021, economic institute Ifo said on Wednesday.

Ifo expects gross domestic product to contract by 11.9% in the second quarter when compared to the January-March period before growing by 6.9% in the third quarter and 3.8% in the last quarter of this year.

“From now on, things are gradually improving again,” Ifo said, but added that the situation was uncertain due to the pandemic and the political reaction to it.

Ifo sees Europe’s largest economy contracting by 6.7% in 2020 as a whole and growing by 6.4% in 2021.