The German economy may shrink this year even exceeding the recession during the financial crisis, according to the country’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. He said that the economy had developed well in the first two months of the year before the coronavirus had exerted its influence. “We expect the economy to shrink by more than 8% in the first half of the year”, added Peter Altmaier.

Earlier Thursday, state-owned Development Bank KfW said the German economy was likely to shrink by 10-15% in the second quarter.

“The recession I am talking about is likely to be at least as bad, if not worse, than during the crisis in the banking system and financial markets between 2008 and 2009”, said Peter Altmaier. The German economy contracted 5.7% in 2009.

“This means that after 10 good years of economic growth this year, we will have a recession again for the first time since 2009”, added the German Economy Minister. “If there is stabilization throughout the year, its balance sheet at the end will be bad, but maybe not as bad as some people expect at the moment”, said Peter Altmaier.

The Ifo Institute for Economic Research said production in the country could decline by up to 20% this year, and the German Economic Institute predicted a 10% decline in this indicator. The government-advised group of economists said on Monday that the economy could shrink by up to 5.4% this year.

Parliament abolishes constitutional detention for so-called Germany’s “debt brake” last week and approved a stimulus package worth more than 750 billion EUR (817.43 billion USD) to tackle economic problems.