An icy cold snap that has caused transport chaos throughout Germany will also take a significant toll on the economy, Europe's largest, a top economic institute warned on Sunday.
"The economy will lose around two billion euros (three billion dollars) because of the harsh winter," the chief economist of the DIHK institute, Volker Treier, told the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag weekly.
"This is mainly due to problems in the construction industry," Treier said. The especially cold winter in Germany has hindered construction activity and caused a spike in unemployment throughout the sector.
The frosty conditions could slice as much as 0.4 percent off the economy's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first three months of the year, Treier predicted.
Germany's economy is slowly recovering after the financial crisis caused its worst slump since World War II in 2009, with a contraction of five percent.
With demand beginning to return for Germany's all-important exports, Berlin has said it expects output of 1.4 percent for this year.
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