German recession fears rise

FRANKFURT, Germany, May 5 (AFP): Industrial orders at German factories saw their biggest fall in March since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020, data showed Friday, the latest sign that Europe's biggest economy is facing a steep downturn.

New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, dropped a surprise 10.7 per cent from the previous month, according to provisional figures from federal statistics authority Destatis.

It was the biggest decline since April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic snarled the global economy amid lockdowns and border closures.

The fall was far steeper than the 2.8 per cent decline forecast by analysts surveyed by the financial data firm FactSet.