Yeah, sure. Consumption totally plummeted. Nothing is running any more, BASF Ludwigshafen is an industrial ruin. In case you didn't notice our industry didn't shut down, big consumers -- like BASF -- switched to alternative sources and now are kinda biting themselves in the ass because they're paying more, now that gas prices are low again.

That makes things more expensive right now. In addition the ECB continues to set quite high interest rates to battle inflation, both together stifle internal consumption, people are eating less Aspargus. And we're talking about what 0.2% reduction over the whole of 2023, 2014 is projected to have an increase of 1.5%. Both Ifo and DIW agree on that one. The trend for the rest of the year is already positive, the projected -0.2% means that we won't be able to completely make up for the bad start of the year by the end of the year.

Also, this "Germany is in a recession" talk is technical. The usual definition of "two years of negative growth" is barely met, and usually doesn't include your neighbour two doors down the street shooting themselves in the head, causing a scene. (One door if you count Kaliningrad, I know).