Mood among German Mittelstand worse than during financial crisis - survey

The mood in Germany's Mittelstand, the small and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of Europe's biggest economy, is worse than in March 2009, during the throes of the global financial crisis, KfW state development bank said on Friday.

A barometer for the Mittelstand produced by KfW and the Ifo institute showed sentiment dropping by 26 points to -45.4 in April as the coronavirus crisis continued to take its toll. That compared with -37.6 in March 2009 and came after a 20.0 point drop in March 2020.

KfW said Mittelstand firms were more pessimistic about the future than ever before.