In April, the digital index and the business expectations index reached their all-time lows. The business situation fell to an 11-year low. Since then, Month after month The business climate rose by 9.7 points to 11.2 in July, the business situation climbed by 4.7 points to 15.8, and business expectations rose by a full 14.3 points to 6.7. This means that all three indices are in positive territory for the first time since February 2020. However, considering the values before the outbreak of the crisis, the German digital industry still has a lot of catching up to do to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus.
“Don’t carelessly jeopardize what we have achieved”
So far, the figures show a V-shaped development, meaning a rapid recovery after the deep slump. In recent months, there have been frequent fears of a U- or L-shaped development. The U-shaped represents a slow recovery, while the L-shaped represents a deep slump followed by stagnating economic development.
"The Corona crisis has hit the digital industry hard. Even though things are now slowly picking up again, this should not obscure the fact that it will take months before we have overcome the Corona crisis economically,"
says Bitkom President Achim Berg.
“We should now do everything in our power to consistently digitize our economy, our schools, our healthcare system, and our administration to make them more resilient against such global crises.”
In view of the rising number of infections, Berg warns:
“The understandable desire for normality must not lead us to carelessly jeopardize what we have achieved through the sacrifices of the last few months.”
Companies in the digital economy expect the situation to return to normal within an average of nine months. The economy as a whole even anticipates eleven months. Currently, around one in four digital companies (28 percent) is still resorting to short-time work—significantly fewer than the economy as a whole (42 percent).
