The German economy shrank by 5% in the pandemic year 2020, bringing to an end a decade of growth as lockdowns wiped out much business and consumer activity.
The pandemic downturn was smaller than that experienced during 2009, when the economy shrank by 5.7%
The state statistics office Destatis said Thursday that only the construction sector showed an upturn as industry and services saw deep declines. Agriculture, financial services, real estate and information and communication suffered smaller declines.
Industry fell 9.7% while services including cultural and sporting events, which have suffered widespread cancellations, fell 11.3%.
