Hard Brexit could wipe at least 0.5 percent off German GDP - BDI

Construction workers are silhouetted while standing on scaffolding at the construction site of the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) during a guided media tour in Frankfurt, October 31, 2013. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File photo - Copyright Kai Pfaffenbach(Reuters)

By Reuters

Published on 26/02/2019 - 10:34•Updated 18/04/2024 - 21:21

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BERLIN (Reuters) - If Britain quits the European Union without a deal, that could shave at least 0.5 percent off Germany's gross domestic product (GDP), the head of Germany's BDI industry association said on Tuesday.

BDI Managing Director Joachim Lang said that would equate to around 17 billion euros ($19.30 billion or £14.7 billion) being slashed off GDP this year alone. He said Britain would probably fall into recession if there were a hard Brexit.

"Contingency measures taken by companies and politicians could water down the worst effects but we would still really feel the impact of a hard Brexit," Lang said, according to the text of a speech he was giving in Berlin.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin)

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