BERLIN (Reuters) – Measures to constrain and combat the coronavirus pandemic are likely to remain in place for a long time, meaning a rapid and strong economic recovery is relatively unlikely, German central bank President Jens Weidmann said on Tuesday.
But Weidmann, who also sits on the European Central Bank’s rate-setting Governing Council, said that he did expect a sustained recovery once the pandemic was fully overcome.
It was too soon for the German government to launch a fiscal stimulus programme, however, since the social distancing measures in place would blunt its impact.
“A stimulus programme could make sense if a recovery didn’t properly get going later on,” he said.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt)
