By Maria Martinez

German business sentiment deteriorated in January on tighter coronavirus restrictions, the Ifo Institute said Monday.

The Ifo business-climate index came in at 90.1 points in January, compared with an upwardly revised 92.2 points in December. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a decline to 91.9 points.

Companies have become more pessimistic about the coming six months. The expectations component fell to 91.1 points from a revised 93.0 points in December, Ifo said.

"The second wave of coronavirus has brought the recovery of the German economy to a halt for now," Ifo said.

Companies also assessed their current business situation as worse than last month and this component fell to 89.2 points in January from 91.3 points in December.

The Ifo index is based on a poll of about 9,000 companies in manufacturing, services, trade and construction.

Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2021 04:26 ET (09:26 GMT)

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