THOMAS Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state, has committed suicide, apparently after becoming “deeply worried” about how to cope with the economic fallout from Covid-19, said state Prime Minister Volker Bouffier today.

Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track yesterday.

The Wiesbaden prosecution’s office said it believes he died by suicide.

“We are in shock, we are in disbelief, and above all, we are immensely sad,” said Bouffier in a recorded statement.

Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital, Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank is also located in the city.

A visibly shaken Bouffier said Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been working “day and night” to help companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.

“Today, we have to assume that he was deeply worried,” said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“It’s precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him.”

Popular and well-respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible successor to Bouffier.

Like Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel’s centre-right CDU party.

He leaves behind a wife and two children. – AFP, March 29, 2020.