Berlin
German exports fell more than 9.0 percent in 2020, official data showed Tuesday, with the coronavirus pandemic sparking the biggest drop in over a decade for Europe’s biggest economy.
In a year hit by border closures and disruptions to supply chains, German exports totalled 1.21 trillion euros ($1.46 trillion) in the last 12 months, down from 1.33 trillion in 2019.
The 9.3-percent decrease is the largest blow to exports that Germany has suffered since an 18-percent drop during the global financial crisis of 2009.
Imports also fell by 7.1 percent to 1.03 trillion euros, the figures released by national statistics office Destatis showed.
That leaves Europe’s largest economy with a positive foreign trade balance of 179.1 billion euros in 2020, down from 224 billion euros in the previous year. —AFP
