![\"\"](\"http:\/\/lavyon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/rk_berlin-coronavirus_060320.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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Germany stepped up efforts to protect companies and workers after the coronavirus hit home on Monday with the first two reported deaths.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s administration will make it easier for businesses to apply for aid to offset wages during furloughs, reviving measures that helped prevent large-scale layoffs during the 2008 financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Keeping workers off factory floors could help stem the spread of the disease, which has shut off whole regions in China and Italy — key trading partners for Germany. Alongside the safety net for companies affected by supply and demand disruptions, the government urged events with more than 1,000 people to be called off.<\/p>\n
Pressure on Germany to act has intensified. The first deaths in the country — an 89-year-old woman in Essen and a 78-year-old man in the town of Heinsberg with a history of health problems — added to the sense of urgency.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s response, aimed at striking a balance between reassuring business and avoiding public panic, buys time for authorities to assess the scope of the economic damage and for health-care facilities to better cope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most effective resource against the virus is the time factor,\u201d Merkel said in Berlin on Monday, hours after hosting a late-night coalition meeting to map out the government\u2019s response. \u201cWe\u2019ll be well prepared for the situation that we have and that is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
The heightened level of caution isn\u2019t affecting just concerts and sporting events, but also corporate gatherings. Volkswagen AG indefinitely postponed a staff meeting — often attended by thousands of workers — that was planned for March 19 at its Wolfsburg headquarters.<\/p>\n
In addition to looser rules for short-time work compensation, Germany\u2019s coalition parties agreed other measures to cushion the impact from the virus. The efforts include extending the scope of write-offs for investment in \u201cdigital goods\u201d and more favorable tax treatment for smaller firms. The government will also make proposals on how to provide liquidity to companies particularly affected by the impact of the virus and will hold talks soon with leading industry groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe package is a good step in the right direction, but it will only tackle the impact from a short-lived economic shock,\u201d said Carsten Brzeski, chief euro-region economist at ING Groep NV. \u201cIf Covid-19 spreads further and the economic impact worsens, last night\u2019s move will not have been the final word.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany also sent a signal that it\u2019s prepared to spend, as the Europe\u2019s largest economy struggles to fend off a recession. Merkel\u2019s Christian Democratic-led bloc and the Social Democrats agreed to invest an additional 12.4 billion euros ($14.1 billion) between 2021 and 2024.<\/p>\n
The clearest sign that the virus was hitting the German economy came on Friday, when Deutsche Lufthansa AG slashed capacity by as much as 50%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact on our booking situation is immense,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said in an internal memo to employees seen by Bloomberg. \u201cWe must assume that it may take months before we will see first signs of stability,\u201d he said in the Friday message.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Jens Spahn urged people to reconsider where they go as the number of cases rise to more than 1,100.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly easier to give up a concert, a club visit, a soccer game than the daily way to work,\u201d he said Monday in Berlin. \u201cTherefore we propose measures that permit slowing the dynamic of the epidemic. That is the highest goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s professional soccer league is sticking with its schedule for the coming weekend, but said it will work with authorities on holding matches, raising the prospect of playing in empty stadiums.<\/p>\n
\u2018Everything Needed\u2019<\/strong> Should Germany enter a serious crisis, its response would dwarf a proposed cut in the so-called solidarity tax by 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) this year, Scholz told RND newspaper consortium.<\/p>\n Merkel\u2019s coalition didn\u2019t agree on an accelerated phaseout of the tax — which is due to be scrapped for 90% of taxpayers in 2021 — or earmark a set amount of funds for state-backed loans and guarantees to ease a cash crunch.<\/p>\n While Germany has Europe\u2019s biggest budget surplus, Merkel\u2019s government has long resisted pressure from the European Central Bank and other institutions to unleash its fiscal power with spending that might benefit the region\u2019s wider economy.<\/p>\n Merkel\u2019s CDU had previously ruled out a more sweeping stimulus package to stem the damage wrought by the virus outbreak, arguing that a surge in public spending won\u2019t address worries among consumers and investors. The approach instead is to seek to contain the virus and evaluate the fallout.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to track the economic effects very closely,\u201d Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said Monday in Berlin. \u201cWe can\u2019t allow this virus, which is so dangerous for people, to also infect the global economy and make it sick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 With assistance by Naomi Kresge, and Iain Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n Source: Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Germany stepped up efforts to protect companies and workers after the coronavirus hit home on Monday with the first two reported deaths. Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s administration will make it easier for businesses to apply for aid to offset wages during furloughs, reviving measures that helped prevent large-scale layoffs during the 2008 financial crisis. Keeping workers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,765],"tags":[787,1087,1089],"class_list":{"0":"post-1432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity-buzz","8":"category-moments","9":"tag-corona-news","10":"tag-coronavirus","11":"tag-germany-coronavirus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFinance Minister Olaf Scholz said Monday it\u2019s unclear whether the virus will have long-term repercussions, but pledged that Germany is prepared \u201cto do everything needed to stabilize the economy and secure jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n