COVID-19 Pandemic, Material Bottlenecks and Price Increases Shape the Economy

The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences continued to shape the development of the global economy in 2021. Regionally, economic activity was heterogeneous, although the rapid recovery in industrial production resulted in supply bottlenecks and sharp price increases in many areas. The domestic economy expanded again, although economic activity again fluctuated strongly during the year and was largely influenced by the COVID-19 healthcare policy measures. With the economic recovery, average hours worked also increased, which had a positive effect on per capita incomes. Together with improved consumer confidence and savings reserves from the previous year, this increased households' willingness to spend. Rising raw material prices had an inflationary effect, causing the consumer price index to rise significantly, particularly at the end of 2021.