The closure of most stores imposed from Wednesday in Germany to curb the Covid-19 epidemic alarms the retail sector, which fears the disappearance of several hundred thousand jobs.
"
The future prospects will soon be lacking for 50,000 stores and 250,000 employees,
" the Federation of German traders (HDE) warned on Tuesday in a statement.
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Faced with the worrying level of contamination, Germany enters partial containment on Wednesday, including a complete closure of "
non-essential
" businesses until January 10.
These measures are in addition to the closure of bars, restaurants, places of leisure and culture, and the ban on tourist stays in hotels, already in place since early November.
A shock in Germany
The new restrictions caused a shock in Germany, in the midst of Christmas shopping: businesses had not been closed in the country since the first epidemic wave in the spring.
"
The most important period of the year will turn into a fiasco
", apostrophed the president of the federation of traders (HDE), Stephan Genth.
In Berlin, residents rushed to line up in front of downtown stores to do their Christmas shopping before closing time, AFP journalists found Tuesday.
To help the sector, the government has widened the ceiling of direct aid compensating the fixed costs of companies weighed down by the restrictions, from 200,000 euros to 500,000 euros.
The government intends to spend a total of up to 11.2 billion euros in aid per month of closure, estimates the Ministry of Finance.
Despite these amounts, the number of unemployed could increase by "
between 50,000 and 100,000
" people in Germany due to the new measures, estimated Tuesday the influential economic institute IFW.
The IFW also predicts another recession after the strong recovery this summer for Germany, with a decline of 0.8% of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2020, and 1.4% in the first quarter of 2021.
A prospect that the government wants to moderate, which still expects a slight increase in GDP of 0.4% between October and December.
"
We will not experience a recession like in the spring,
" wanted to reassure the Minister of the Economy Peter Altmaier on Monday.
Berlin expected at the end of October a recession of 5.5% in 2020, before a recovery in activity of 4.4% in 2021 and 2.5% in 2022, a return to the “
pre-crisis
”
dynamic
.