Tuesday 26 February 2019 4:29 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 1:48 am

No-deal Brexit could hit Germany’s economy, industry body warns

A no-deal Brexit could wipe at least 0.5 per cent off Germany’s GDP, a German industry body warned today.

Joachim Lang, managing director of Germany’s BDI industry association, predicted a hard Brexit would slash €17bn (£14.7bn) from Germany's economy.

The German government forecasts that economic growth will amount to only one per cent in 2019, in large part because of the fallout from Brexit.

The Eurozone country narrowly avoided recession at the end of 2018, blaming external and geopolitical headwinds.

Lang also claimed a no-deal Brexit would plunge the UK into recession.

"British politicians should not postpone decisions anymore. All the options are on the table,” Lang said, speaking in Berlin.

"It would be absurd for the United Kingdom to slide into a hard Brexit in four weeks' time, one that even the majority in London's parliament rejects."

Earlier this month, a report by the Halle Institute for Economic Research concluded that “EU countries will suffer from declining exports to the UK” if a no-deal Brexit were to occur.

The report predicted Germany’s jobs market would be worst hit. “The overall effect on absolute employment is largest for Germany where about 100,000 persons are potentially affected,” the report said.

Lang added that if a divorce deal with the EU cannot gain parliamentary approval then the UK “should stop the Brexit process”.

The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March. In a series of votes on 12, 13 and 14 March, MPs will decide whether to leave the EU with the negotiated deal, with no deal, or whether to delay Brexit.