Germany Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said the country suffered the “deepest economic slump” in history in the last months. Nevertheless, “the good news is: the trough should be behind us by now, and things are looking up again,” he added. “But the deep slump is being followed only by a comparatively gradual recovery.”
He also hailed that the government was right to act quickly in supporting the economy with stimulus. The image of a frugal nation was wrongly portrayed. “She is not saving for the sake of saving, but so that there is money that can be spent sensibly and in case there are difficult times. And that is precisely the case here,” he noted.
Separately, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said the estimate 4-day R-value of coronavirus jumped to 2.88 on Sunday. That’s a sharp increase from 1.06 on Friday. It’s also back at the level since early March. The number means that out of 100 people who contracted the coronavirus, a further 288 other people will get infected. To keep the pandemic under control, the R-value needs to be kept below 1. The surge in R-value indicates the risk of a second wave in Germany.
