Saarland university, Public university in Saarbrücken, Germany

Berlin, Feb 16 The ongoing Covid-19 measures continue to weigh on the German economy in the first quarter of 2021, according to the monthly economic report published by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).The recovery after the end of the first Covid-19 lockdown in spring last year had "largely come to a halt for the time being in the wake of the second lockdown," BMWi noted in the reported published on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.After a strong increase of 8.5 per cent in the third quarter, Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) only grew by 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).Germany entered a lockdown in November when the second Covid-19 wave hit the country. Health regulations have since been tightened and the lockdown was extended until at least March 7.Non-essential shops, restaurants and leisure facilities are closed and strict contact restrictions apply.The "economic picture remains divided," BMWi noted. While Germany's industry sector continued to develop robustly, the service sector including hospitality, arts and entertainment was "heavily restricted" by the measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.BMWi noted that the further development of the German economy would largely depend on how quickly the rise in the number of infections during the winter could be contained.Economic growth in the euro area is expected to be at 4.9 per cent this year, according to a recent report by the European Forecasting Research Association for the Macro-Economy (EUROFRAME).A significant economic recovery in Europe is likely to start when large parts of the population are vaccinated and Covid-19 infections fall significantly, which is expected from the second quarter onwards, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), part of the EUROFRAME Group, noted on Monday."In the areas of personal services and private consumption, there is a lot of catch-up potential," looking at vacation or visits to restaurants, said Klaus-Juergen Gern, an economic researcher at IfW Kiel, adding "Economic activity in these areas is likely to rebound abruptly as soon as the pandemic situation allows."( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Saarland UniversityFOLLOW

Saarland university, Latest News

New Delhi, Feb 22 After Covid-19 cases have started surging again in the country, Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill ... ...

A 95-year-old Tennessee resident, who worked as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, has been deported back to Germany, the US Justice Department. ...

Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny will remain behind bars after a Russian court partially rejected his appeal over a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence handed down earlier this month. ...

Berlin, Feb 18 The more contagious variants of coronavirus are spreading rapidly in Germany, Minister of Health Jens ... ...

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev defeated compatriot Andrey Rublev to sail into the semi-finals of the ongoing Australian Open on Wednesday. ...

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) International Working President Alok Kumar has lashed out at former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy over his remark on the donation drive for construction of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya. ...

World no. 1 Novak Djokovic on Tuesday defeated Germany's Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena to register a place in the semi-finals. ...

Berlin, Feb 16 The ongoing Covid-19 measures continue to weigh on the German economy in the first quarter ... ...