Ifo's Sinn sees two-year recession in Germany
Published: 5 Jan, 2009 CET.
Updated: Mon 5 Jan 2009 11:37 CET
Everyone expects 2009 to be a rough year, but according to Hans-Werner Sinn, the head of Munich's Ifo economic institute, Germany is facing two dire years of recession and rising unemployment.
“The German economy is on the brink of the worst recession in its post-war history,” Sinn told daily paper Bild. “We don't expect any recovery in 2010 either.”
He said Europe's largest economy would shrink by at least two percent this year.
As one of Germany's leading economic institutes, many could find Ifo's forecast troubling. Sinn said the days when the German labour market appeared immune to the global economic crisis were over.
“Unemployment will rise by half a million by December,” he said, adding the number of people out of work could even crack the symbolic four million number in 2010.
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“The German economy is on the brink of the worst recession in its post-war history,” Sinn told daily paper Bild. “We don't expect any recovery in 2010 either.”
He said Europe's largest economy would shrink by at least two percent this year.
As one of Germany's leading economic institutes, many could find Ifo's forecast troubling. Sinn said the days when the German labour market appeared immune to the global economic crisis were over.
“Unemployment will rise by half a million by December,” he said, adding the number of people out of work could even crack the symbolic four million number in 2010.
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