The long lockdown is damaging Germany's economy.
Now an expert explains how high the costs of the closings really are and who is thriving in the pandemic despite everything.
Munich - Germany has been in various stages of lockdown for months.
That is also decisive for the economy.
Because the closings cause value creation costs - in the billions and every week.
Now the estimates have even been revised upwards.
Expensive lockdown: Billions are lost to the economy every week
“We are between
two to two and a half billion euros per week ”, Timo Wollmershäuser from the German Ifo Institute for Economic Research told ZDF.
Of course, not all industries are equally affected.
Unsurprisingly, the losers in the crisis are culture, tourism and gastronomy, retail and body-hugging services.
But that will not last, Wollmershäuser is certain of that.
"Certain services cannot be digitized and so restaurants and hairdressers will continue to exist."
Other industries are doing much better despite the tense situation in the pandemic.
The manufacturing and construction industries are getting through the crisis much better than expected.
"Industrial companies in particular are continuing their recovery after the slump in the second quarter of 2020," the expert explains to ZDF.
In the construction industry, the majority of entrepreneurs stated in an ifo survey that they were satisfied with the business situation.
Online trading is among the pandemic's biggest winners.
First easing in March: is that enough for the economy?
In the meantime, the federal and state governments have decided to take initial easing steps depending on certain incidence values.
Openings are at least partially conceivable in the particularly affected businesses.
Nevertheless, there is massive criticism from the business world.
Many industry associations, especially those of the trade, reacted indignantly to the resolutions of the most recent Corona summit *.
There are also too many variables that entrepreneurs cannot influence despite good hygiene concepts.
Despite everything, Timo Wollmershäuser sees the Corona crisis * as an opportunity for the economy.
Because especially with digitization there were opportunities to “create the basis for innovation”.
It is now important to use these opportunities.
Workers in the corona pandemic: How lockdown harms the psyche
Business psychologist Monika Müller assesses the current situation a little more critically.
For the employees, i.e. the people in the economy, the current situation is a challenge, she tells ZDF.
People couldn't handle doing something new and different all the time.
“That confronts us with uncertainty that we cannot cope with very well.” Loss of income and short-time work * also had a negative effect on the psyche.
However, she also believes that the pandemic represents an opportunity in the long term.
"We need crises like this in order to actually tackle what ultimately turns out to be positive," says the business psychologist.
(mam / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
