Berlin, Jan. 14 (BNA): The risk of a recession looms for Germany after Europe’s largest economy contracted at the end of 2021 and faced a tough start to the year, with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant. Deter people from shopping and travelling, and supply bottlenecks hinder manufacturers.
State statistics agency Destatis said Friday that production in Germany fell by between 0.5% and 1% in the fourth quarter. The outlook is also shaky for the first three months of 2022, and two consecutive quarters of lower output will leave Germany in a recession, according to a commonly used definition.
Germany helps set the pace for the entire Eurozone, the 19 European Union countries that use the euro currency and one of the largest economies in the world. Many German companies have suppliers or factories in other European countries, so doing business in Germany can boost growth for its neighbors.
Over the entire past year, the German economy grew 2.7%, rebounding from a 4.6% decline in 2020 when pandemic lockdowns were at their most severe, according to an AP report.
One company — Mainz-based vaccine maker BioNTech — contributed a full 0.5% of the 2021 economic output from licensing income on the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with Pfizer.
The jump, he said, was due to the complete absence of BioNTech’s licensing income the previous year.
German growth remains below the pre-pandemic level and lags behind the estimated figure in the Eurozone of 5% as the performance is less robust than many other major economies such as France, Spain and Italy.
Full statistics for the fourth quarter will be released on January 28. Late year-end collection means that the full-year figure is available before the first for the last three months of the year.
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