April 10, Rus Ulm, chairman of the German Industrial Association BDI, said in an interview with the German media that the blockade and shutdown will cause huge losses to the German economy.
“It will take at least a week to close industrial production, because many trucks are still on the way to transportation, and the chemical plant cannot be closed overnight.
Close, the high-temperature furnace cannot be closed urgently, which takes time. And when the lock-in is over, it will take weeks for the affected supply chain to return to normal.
The four-week industrial shutdown lost not only time, but more. It’s easy to take a big hit on our gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year, so we won’t be able to make up for the losses we suffered last year.”
Rus Ulm believes that only accelerating vaccination is a truly effective strategy to contain the epidemic.
He also stressed that China, which has resumed economic prosperity, has an important impact on Germany.
“In the short term, the growth of demand in Asia and North America has boosted our exports. Exports are expected to grow by 8.5% this year, but in the long run, the rapid recovery of China and the United States will weaken the international competitiveness of German companies, so Germany must also contain the outbreak as soon as possible.”
