German businesses dismayed by further lockdown extension

"Too many are still falling behind," he told ZDF television. Merkel's coalition government has launched an array of measures to help companies and consumers in Europe's biggest economy through the pandemic, including liquidity aid for struggling firms and job protection schemes for employees.

The German business community expressed consternation on Thursday after Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders agreed to extend the coronavirus lockdown until March 7. "Politicians are leaving industry in the lurch," said Andrea Belegante from the BdS lobby group that represents the restaurant and catering business, adding she was "stunned".

"Again there are no prospects, again no concrete steps towards an opening strategy, again only a postponement without prospects to the beginning of March." Under the agreement reached on Wednesday, hair salons will be allowed to reopen from March 1 but the threshold for a gradual re-opening of the rest of the economy has been tightened: an infection rate of no more than 35 new cases per 100,000 people over seven days, down from 50 previously.

Hans Peter Wollseifer, president of the organisation representing skilled trades, said it was disappointing that leaders had not been able to agree on a detailed plan for openings to help business plan to ramp up again. "Many companies want and need to finally get going again, and they need to know when and how this will be possible again," he said.

Anton Boerner, President of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA), said the opening plan was too vague: "We in the wholesale sector need a reliable lead time in order to be able to equip and supply our partners in the catering and hotel industry, as well as canteens," he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Marcel Fratzscher, the President of the German Institute for Economic Research, called for additional government support, particularly for self-employed people and freelancers. "Too many are still falling behind," he told ZDF television.

Merkel's coalition government has launched an array of measures to help companies and consumers in Europe's biggest economy through the pandemic, including liquidity aid for struggling firms and job protection schemes for employees. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz held out the prospect of a faster disbursement of state aid: "It can happen very quickly now," he told NTV television.