Timo Wollmershauser, head of economic research at the German Ifo Institute for Economic Research, said that “inflation has wiped out the savings that Germans accumulated during the coronavirus pandemic.”

The official explained: “Families in Germany saved about 70 billion euros between April 2020 and March 2021, which is higher than the average in normal years, but bank balance sheets show that consumers have been increasingly relying on these savings since the end of last year,” he added. that “additional deposits were almost exhausted by the end of the first quarter of this year.”

The head of economic research at the Ifo Institute pointed out that “in the second quarter, this development remained virtually unchanged”, noting that “inflation was probably the main reason for this.” He stressed that “consumer prices continue to rise strongly, which means that private consumption will not be able to act as a driving force for the German economy until the end of the year.”