It now expects gross domestic product to grow by just 2.6 per cent in 2021 – in April, the government said it had been expecting 3.5 per cent growth.

There’s a more optimistic outlook for next year, however. For 2022, the federal government expects growth of 4.1 per cent rather than its previous forecast of 3.6 per cent.

Outgoing Economy Minister Peter Altmaier will present the government’s autumn economic statement in Berlin on Wednesday.

The lowering of growth expectations for this year comes as no surprise. In mid-October leading economic research institutes had downgraded their economic forecasts for 2021, blaming the continuing consequences of the pandemic and supply bottlenecks.