According to the report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2020 was almost unchanged compared with the third quarter of 2020 after adjustment for price, seasonal and calendar variations. After the historic 9.7% slump of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2020, the German economy was recovering in the summer of the year (+8.5% in the third quarter). In the fourth quarter, however, the recovery process slowed due to the second coronavirus wave and another lockdown imposed at the end of the year. This affected household consumption in particular, while exports of goods and gross fixed capital formation in construction supported the economy. Destatis also reports that the resulting GDP decline was 5.0% for the year 2020 as a whole (calendar-adjusted: -5.3%).

GDP in the fourth quarter of 2020 was down a price-adjusted 2.9% and a price- and calendar-adjusted 3.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, the quarter before the corona crisis began.