File photo of German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in Berlin, Germany, April 20, 2021. — Reuters picBERLIN, Apr 24 — The German government is set to upgrade its growth forecast for this year as industry holds up well to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said today.
“In January, we forecast growth of 3.0 per cent. Current data show that it will even be slightly higher,” Altmaier said in an interview with the Funke media group. Europe’s biggest economy shrank by 4.9 per cent in 2020 as restrictions to curb the pandemic hit many sectors.“There are reasons to be optimistic,” Altmaier said, pointing to better-than-expected data as industry benefits from the global recovery.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the anti-Covid restrictions — which are being tightened in Germany from this weekend in an attempt to rein in a ferocious third wave of infections — have hit sectors such as retail, gastronomy and hotels particularly hard. Last week, Germany’s leading think-tanks similarly warned that the current wave of the pandemic would put the brakes on economic recovery, but they were pencilling in growth of as much as 3.7 percent this year.