FRANKFURT – The German economy, Europe's largest, shrank by 5% in the pandemic year 2020, ending a decade of growth as lockdowns wiped out much business and consumer activity.
The U.S. had a downturn of 4.6% while China's economy grew 2.1%, according to the estimates used by Destatis.
In the fourth quarter, German growth “roughly stagnated,” said Michael Kuhn, head of the GDP and output calculation group at the agency.
The pandemic downturn, which followed 10 straight years of annual growth, was smaller than that experienced during 2009, when the economy shrank by 5.7% The 2020 figure compares to modest growth of 0.6% in 2019.
In 2020, the economy seesawed between lockdowns and a robust upswing that still left growth below the previous year.