Slump in consumption, exports push Germany into recession in Q1

A slump in capital investments, private consumption and exports pushed the German economy into a recession in the first quarter, detailed data showed on Monday, giving a glimpse of the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Statistics Office said capital investments fell by 6.9%, private consumption by 3.2% and exports by 3.1%.

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This meant that private consumption took off 1.7 percentage points of overall economic activity and net trade shaved off 0.8 percentage points, leading to a first-quarter contraction of 2.2%.