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Pandemic life form: toilet paper hamster
Photo:
Axel Heimken / dpa
The pandemic has sent the common economic indicators on a roller coaster ride.
The gross domestic product is greased and the travel.
But the demand for toilet paper suddenly went through the roof.
But how exactly is the country doing in the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus?
How drastic is the state's new indebtedness compared to previous crises?
In the following graphics you can give an estimate of how the situation has developed.
You can complete the graphic with the mouse or on your mobile phone with your finger.
The actual development is then displayed.
Economic output
The crash was deep and it came suddenly: When the corona pandemic hit the Federal Republic, it also ended one of the longest growth phases in the history of the Federal Republic.
However, the quarterly data from the Federal Statistical Office also show that Germany's growth engine was already stuttering noticeably in 2019.
But exactly how deep was the downturn?
The economic output of the Federal Republic shrank by almost five percent in 2020 and amounted to 3.3 trillion euros.
A look at the quarterly growth rates (calendar and seasonally adjusted) gives a somewhat better insight into the anatomy of the corona recession.
It also reveals how different the crisis is from the pattern of the last major economic downturn, the 2008-09 global financial crisis.
The first lockdown in spring 2020 caught Germany - and many companies - off guard.
Large parts of the economy put in a kind of
sudden stop
, a sudden
emergency stop
.
The causes were of quite different nature: while restaurants and shops were forced to close by the authorities, many industrial companies such as car factories closed their sites themselves.
They lacked components;
Border closings and the rabid Wuhan lockdown in China had ruptured their supply chains.
The result: economic power collapsed within just three months by a seemingly apocalyptic
9.7 percent
. The decline in the second quarter of 2020 was therefore twice as strong as in the first quarter of 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. However: With the number of infections falling, a strong recovery immediately set in from summer 2020 (plus
8.5 percent
).
However, this did not result in a permanent race to catch up.
Growth ran out of steam again due to the second lockdown towards the end of the year.
The reason was the second wave of infections along with the unsuccessful "lockdown light" and Christmas lockdown.
In the last three months of 2020, the economy only grew by a measly
0.3 percent
.
However, because many factories were able to continue working, another devastating slump did not take place.
Many companies also report full order books: because the economy in the USA and China is booming - and because most consumers in Germany also expect that the crisis will be overcome quickly and are therefore happily spending their money.
The toilet paper bonanza
One of the peculiarities of the pandemic is that economic sectors and actors that previously belonged to the economic periphery suddenly came into the public eye.
Since then, supermarket sellers have been valued more, they are considered to be systemically relevant.
At the beginning of the pandemic, industries were also doing good business that analysts probably did not have on the list as boom sectors: baking yeast producers, for example - and, of course, manufacturers of toilet paper.
It was a self-fulfilling prophecy: For fear of toilet paper shortages, many citizens built up large stocks - and thus ensured that toilet paper was really sold out in many places.
But how big was the run actually?
In some cases, the demand for the "white gold" rose to more than three times the usual amount.
This pattern was repeated when wave number two rushed in, but to a much lesser extent.
Citizens seem to have developed some routine in the face of the pandemic - or still very large supplies from the initial lockdown.
The Federal Statistical Office has not yet published any data for the third wave.
Air traffic: the void above the clouds
The situation of many airlines is so catastrophic that one airline in Japan, for example, has already started using its aircraft as a kind of luxury restaurant.
Flying is hardly an option.
Travel warnings from the Federal Foreign Office and the concerns of many customers about contamination have caused passenger numbers to collapse in the pandemic.
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