Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the German economy

• Main Author: Vladislav Belov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences 2020-02-01
• Series: Научно-аналитический вестник Института Европы РАН
• Subjects: germany; the european union; china; epidemic; pandemic; coronavirus; global production chains; gdp; exports; imports; global economic crisis
• Online Access: http://vestnikieran.instituteofeurope.ru/images/Belov22020.pdf

The coronavirus epidemic, which began in China in early 2020, has grown into a global pandemic. It has qualitatively changed the situation in the world economy. Global production value chains have been disrupted. This led to a failure in the production processes of many companies, primarily, automotive and engineering, pharmaceutical industry. Transport and logistics operations have been drastically reduced, international exhibition and tourism business has been stopped. The results of the first quarter raised the issue of the beginning of the global recession and the economic crisis. Among the EU countries, Germany was one of the first to experience the negative effects of the pandemic. This is due to the high level of openness of the economy, respectively, dependence on exports and imports of goods and services. A number of productions were suspended and employees were transferred to a reduced working week. The German government’s strict measures to combat the coronavirus, first of all, the introduction of quarantine for citizens, significantly worsened the situation in the economy. The state has developed and started to implement a large- scale program of assistance to economic entities. The article analyzes the first results of the influence of external and internal factors on the German economy, mechanisms of state support for business and their effectiveness. The author gives an assessment of the prospects for the economic de- velopment of Germany in 2020–2021.