Germany's industrial production suffers record decline in March

Industrial production in Germany dropped by a record 9.2 percent in March compared with the previous month, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday, pinning the blame on the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Destatis, this was the largest decline since the beginning of the time series in January 1991.

A staggering 31.1 percent drop was recorded for Germany's important automotive industry, according to Destatis.

Only the construction industry showed a slight increase -- up by 1.8 percent in March, said Destatis.

Germany's Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) noted on Thursday that the decline in production in the entire first quarter triggered by the global coronavirus crisis was "still moderate."

The shutdown had only affected production in the second half of March, and BMWi is expecting that "the drop in production in April will be even sharper."