German exports and industrial output posted record drops in April, challenging widely-held views among experts that an historic recession in Europe’s biggest economy had bottomed out.

German officials and analysts however repeated they were confident that the worst was past, even if the road to recovery will not be smooth.

German exports plunged by 28.7 percent from last year, official data showed, the biggest drop since German records began in 1950.

Germany’s export-driven economy is in the midst of its worst recession since World War II, and the government expects gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink by a whopping 6.0 percent this year.