The ZEW economic indicator for March plunged by 58.2 points on the previous month to minus 49.5 points, the Mannheim-based group said, marking the indicator’s farthest fall since it was launched in late 1991.

A drop into negative territory shows an overwhelmingly negative outlook among analysts.

Observers had been expecting a fall to minus 30 points, as the coronavirus pandemic grips global economies.

Experts expect Germany’s economy to shrink in real terms in the first quarter of 2020 and consider a continuing decline into the second quarter to be “very likely.”