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Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) has put the federal government's growth forecast for the coming year into perspective in view of the sharp rise in the number of coronavirus infections in Germany.
The positive economic assessments for 2021 are "of course subject to the proviso that we succeed in reducing the high number of infections again," Altmaier told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
However, it does not look like that at the moment.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, the health authorities in Germany reported 14,714 new corona infections on Saturday morning within one day, more than ever since the beginning of the corona pandemic in Germany.
The number of deaths related to Covid-19 disease passed the 10,000 mark on Saturday.
New economic forecast next week
At the beginning of September, the German government had forecast growth in the German economy of 4.4 percent for the coming year and a decline in gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.8 percent for the current year.
For 2020 it can be assumed that "the development will largely occur as it was forecast," said Altmaier.
The leading German economic research institutes had predicted growth of 4.7 percent for the coming year in mid-October.
The federal government wants to present a new economic forecast next week.
Even economists are pessimistic about the future.
She is worried about the possible economic consequences of a second wave of the corona pandemic.
"The economic upturn is likely to largely come to a standstill by spring," said the chief economist of the state banking group KfW, Fritzi-Koehler Geib, in a dpa survey.
"As a result, unemployment is likely to stagnate in the coming months or - if things go bad - increase significantly," she added.
Enzo Weber from the Institute for Employment Research in Nuremberg sees it similarly.
"The labor market caught up in the summer, but the recovery is far more sluggish and some areas, such as industry, are continuing to cut jobs."
Bridging aids are to be extended
Altmaier called the current infection situation "dramatic", but at the same time warned against a renewed shutdown of the economy as in the spring.
"There shouldn't be a new, comprehensive lockdown, and I don't consider it necessary," he told the Funke-Blätter.
The Minister of Economic Affairs called on the federal and state governments to "take the necessary decisions with greater unanimity over the next few days" in order to curb the spread of the new type of corona virus.
Germany can no longer afford "patchwork of regulations".
Altmaier also appealed to the government coalition to quickly adopt new corona aid for the economy.
It is important to him "that we intensify targeted aid for those industries and companies that are particularly hard hit by the corona pandemic".
Altmaier wants to give the hospitality and events industry more support.
To this end, he wants to extend the bridging aid currently running until the end of the year as one of several measures.
The minister also advocates the introduction of a nationwide "entrepreneur's wage" for self-employed and freelancers.
This form of corona aid is already being used in some federal states.
North Rhine-Westphalia pays an entrepreneur's wage of 1,000 euros a month.
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jat / AFP / dpa