German government cuts 2022 economic growth forecast to 3.6%

BERLIN (AP) — The German government has cut its growth forecast for this year. But it says that Europe’s biggest economy remains “robust” and will return to its pre-pandemic size in 2022. The Economy Ministry predicted on Wednesday that gross domestic product will grow by 3.6%. That’s down from the 4.1% Germany’s previous government forecast in late October. The picture has been clouded since then by a steep new wave of coronavirus infections fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant. Preliminary official figures show that GDP grew 2.7% last year. That’s a rebound from a plunge of 4.6% in 2020 when pandemic lockdowns were at their most severe.