Germany’s Altmaier: With package we want economic trough to be reached in H2

After the German cabinet approved the reduction in the Value Added Tax (VAT) as a part of the EUR130 billion economic stimulus, Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that the government wants the economy to hit the bottom in H2 should the package have the desired impact.

Additional quotes

“We have no reason to revise government growth forecast.”

“Given the volatility of pandemic, uncertainty about the economy in other countries, we should not keep changing our forecast - will present a new forecast in autumn as planned.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was reported as saying that “as long as there is no vaccine, we must live in such a way as to avoid the second wave of coronavirus.”

“We will agree a supplementary budget next week,” Scholz said.