Today, the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR) published its Special Report entitled “Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Lage angesichts der Corona-Pandemie” [The overall economic situation in the light of the coronavirus pandemic]. In this report, the German Council of Economic Experts uses different scenarios to analyse the coronavirus pandemic and discuss suitable economic policy action that could be taken in response to the crisis. The German Council of Economic Experts makes it very clear that the level of uncertainty with regard to future developments is extremely high because of a lack of data. According to the German Council of Economic Experts, the focus for Germany’s economic policy should be on upholding entrepreneurial capacity to facilitate an economic recovery after the downturn. The experts therefore welcome the action taken by the Federal Government to support companies’ cashflows.

In a joint press conference on 24 March 2020, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier had already thanked the Chairman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Professor Lars P. Feld, for the Special Report. Said the Minister: “I would like to thank the German Council of Economic Experts for sharing its expertise. At the end of April 2020, I will be presenting the Federal Government’s Spring Projection, so that all the information available at that point can be used to forecast economic developments for this year. Everybody involved needs to be able to prepare for these future developments. It is paramount to me that we use the Spring Projection to create transparency.”

You can find the Special Report here (in German) (PDF, 2 MB).