Outlook for the World Economy and the German Economy: Interim Forecast Spring 2020

Over the past months, the Covid-19 pandemic has progressively affected economic activity globally, including in Germany. Due to the rapidly evolving situation, time lags in the publication of conventional economic indicators and the lack of comparable historical episodes, the assessment of the economic impact has been an exceptional challenge for forecasters. To keep up with the developments, the Kiel Institute Forecasting Center prepared an interim forecast taking account of data received since the publication of the regular spring forecast (11 March), the scenario update (19 March) and the spring report of the Joint Economic Forecast (8 April) well in advance of the regular summer edition of our economic outlook, which is scheduled for mid-June.