German economy shrank at faster pace than during global financial crisis

A waiter wipes a table on a cafe terrace in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. German coronavirus cases jumped this month as authorities boost testing and summer travelers return home, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Picture: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

The German economy contracted by a record 9.7% in the second quarter as consumer spending, company investments, and exports all collapsed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the statistics office said. 

The economic slump was much stronger than during the financial crisis more than a decade ago, and it represented the sharpest decline since Germany began to record quarterly GDP calculations in 1970, the office said.