Germany lowered its growth estimate for the third quarter on Thursday, as clouds accumulated over the economy with the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic.
The federal data agency said the economy grew 1.7% between July and September from the previous quarter, down 0.1 percentage point from preliminary figures released last month.
“The recovery of the German economy continued throughout the summer,” Destatis said in a statement.
But growth was slowing, with the third quarter figure declining from the two percent posted in the second quarter.
With new restrictions imposed again in recent days for new record Covid infections, experts have warned that production in the last three months of the year will be hit hard.
Already, an acute shortage of raw materials was holding back the growth of Europe’s largest economy.
The German Bundesbank now expects stable production in the fourth quarter.
For the year as a whole, the government expects GDP to stand at 2.6% instead of the 3.5% previously forecast.
Germany on Thursday announced a record number of coronavirus deaths and infections as its total death toll surpassed 100,000, with its most severe wave of the virus to date breaking just as a new government takes hold. preparing to take the reins.
Europe’s largest economy has recorded 351 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 100,119, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute health agency ( RKI).
The weekly incidence rate also reached a record high of 419.7 new infections per 100,000 people, the RKI said.
The escalating health crisis poses an immediate challenge for the new coalition government led by Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is expected to succeed Angela Merkel next month as chancellor.
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