Germany's DIW institute raises 2020 GDP forecast

German economic institute DIW said on Thursday it expects the country's economy to decline by 6% this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, revising upwards an earlier estimate of a 9.4% contraction.

German economic institute DIW said on Thursday it expects the country's economy to decline by 6% this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, revising upwards an earlier estimate of a 9.4% contraction. "The German economy is doing well, considering the circumstances," DIW analyst Claus Michelsen said.

For next year, DIW raised its GDP growth forecast to 4.1% from 3% in June but cautioned that the pandemic could still lead to setbacks. "It would be wrong to believe that the crisis will be over quickly," DIW President Marcel Fratzscher said.

Germany's economy shrank by an unprecedented 9.7% in the second quarter, a contraction that without government countermeasures would have been accompanied by a wave of bankruptcies and mass unemployment.