BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The German economy contracted by a record 9.7 percent in the second quarter of this year amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Statistical Office said on Tuesday.
The contraction, the sharpest decline since the country began producing quarterly growth figures in 1970, followed a smaller drop in activity of 2 percent in the first quarter.
There has been a "massive slump" in househould spending, investment in equipment and machinery and in exports and imports, the office said.
Yet the reading marked an upward revision from an earlier estimate of 10.1 percent for the April-June period.
Experts expect a rebound in GDP in the third quarter of the year, saying that the economy would remain below pre-crisis level for a long time to come. Enditem
