In a shocking development, Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state, committed suicide after becoming deeply concerned with the economic fallout of deadly Coronavirus. As per reports, the state minister was worried over how to cope with the economic crisis that emerged out of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Schaefer's body was found near a railway track on Saturday. He is survived by a wife and two children. In a statement, state premier Volker Bouffier said, "We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all, we are immensely sad."
Thomas Schaefer, Hesse's finance chief for 10 years
It is to be noted that Hesse is the home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt where major global lenders including Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. Further, the European Central Bank is also situated in Frankfurt. As per a report by AFP, Bouffier said that the Thomas Schaefer, who was Hesse's finance chief for 10 years was leaving no stone unturned to minimize the economic impact of the global pandemic on the state's economy.
"Today we have to assume that he was deeply worried. It's precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him," he said. Schaefer was also seen as a possible successor to Volker Bouffier. He belonged to Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU party. At the time of filing the story, Germany as over 60,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 481 deaths.
(To be updated)
