The German government will raise its growth forecast for 2021 thanks to the good resilience of the industry and despite new restrictions linked to the health crisis, the Minister of the Economy said in an interview on Saturday.
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“
In January, we predicted growth of 3%.
Current figures show it will be even a little more,
”Peter Altmaier told the Funke media group, as the government is due to release its new forecast on Tuesday.
The largest European economy had suffered a drop of 4.9% of its GDP last year.
Tightening of restrictions
"
There are reasons to be optimistic,
" he added, stressing "a
more solid-than-expected economic development
" mainly thanks to the industry which is benefiting from a rebound in the global economy.
On the other hand, the measures to fight the pandemic are severely affecting the retail trade, gastronomy and hotels, he admitted, while Germany from Saturday hardens its restrictions at the national level.
A return to pre-pandemic levels will take place "
at the latest in 2022
", he warned, due to the impact of the third wave of the health crisis, marked by a rapid spread of variants of the coronavirus.
Read also: Could France install air purifiers in classrooms like in Germany?
The main economic institutes had them also estimated a week ago that this third wave "
delayed the recovery
", even if they remained more optimistic than the government by counting on an increase of 3.7% of the GDP this year.