The German government does not expect a strong upswing in the country’s economy until next year, as it announced a scaled-down growth forecast for 2021.

The government expected gross domestic product (GDP) to increase by 2.6 percent this year.

In April, a rise of 3.5 percent had been predicted.

The long-term prospects look better, however, with the Federal Government now expecting growth of 4.1 percent instead of the previous 3.6 percent in 2022.

Germany’s outgoing Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday that the demand for German products on the world markets remains high.

“If the supply bottlenecks gradually disappear, there will be significant catch-up effects in 2022,’’ he said.

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The German government also expects the inflation rate to return to a significantly lower level as early as the turn of the year.

This is because some special factors will no longer apply, such as the reversal of the temporary lower rates of VAT introduced to boost the economy in the early stages of the pandemic.