BERLIN – German business confidence declined more than expected in January as businesses grappled with coronavirus restrictions and an uncertain outlook, a closely watched survey showed Monday.
The Ifo institute's monthly confidence index fell to 90.1 points from 92.2 in December. Managers' assessment of both the current situation and the outlook for the next sixth months worsened.
Economists had expected a decline to 91.4 points. The Ifo said that “the second wave of coronavirus has brought the recovery of the German economy to a halt for now.” Germany shut restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities on Nov.
2 in an effort to halt a sharp rise in coronavirus infections. That succeeded for a while, but didn't bring case numbers down.