This is Exchanges of Goldman Sachs, where we discuss developments currently shaping markets, industries in the global economy. I'm Jake Stewart, Global, and the global economy.

I'm Jake Stewart Global Head of Corporate Communications here at the firm.

Today we're diving into Germany's economic recovery from the pandemic and the business and banking

outlook more broadly there.

We're joined by Wolfgang Fink, Goldman Sachs CEO for Germany and Austria.

Wolfgang, welcome to the program.

Thank you, Jake.

Thanks for having me.

So, can you give us a high level summary of how the German

economy has been hit and recovered from the start of the COVID-19 crisis through

today? Yeah, I think, you know, Germany as many other economies were hit by what we now know is the deepest post-war recession that the country experienced amid the pandemic, the GDP fell by 11.5% according to our numbers in the first half of 2020,

and large parts of the economy were locked down.

That's that, the contraction over here has been softer than in other industrial countries and while the

uncertainty around the outlook remains high in essence we have seen three

phases of the crisis for many of the companies over here. Number one, the first phase obviously a standstill

of economic processes in highly volatile markets

and securing liquidity and balance sheet stability

were top of priority. Many companies were taking up finances,

bridge financing similar. And today we are in a face of balance sheet repairs. How can

these holes in the balance sheet be plugged and clearly what to do to adapt to the

changing environment going forward and basically instilling resilience in those organizations

amid the uncertainty prevailing.

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