An economist at the Ifo Institute expected that Germany's economy will shrink by up to 20 percent this year due to the impact of the Corona virus, as German corporate sentiment has collapsed to the lowest level since the global financial crisis in 2009.
According to Reuters, the pessimistic expectations came while lawmakers were studying an unprecedented bailout program worth more than 750 billion euros (813.15 billion dollars) and the government is seeking for this to cause Parliament to suspend the upper limit of debt stipulated in the constitution.
The final reading of the Ifo survey showed that its business climate index tumbled to 86.1 from 96.0 in February.
"This is the largest recorded fall since German reunification and the lowest value since July 2009," Clemens Voest, the institute's president, said in a statement.
"The German economy is in shock," the German economy said, adding that business expectations in particular worsened in an unprecedented way, while companies' assessment of their current situation also deteriorated greatly.
In the services sector, Evo said that the business climate index recorded the largest decline since data collection began in 2005.
In the manufacturing sector, the index fell to the lowest level in August 2009, and the sub-index for forecasts is expected to post the largest decline in sector surveys dating back to 70 years.
