Peter Bofinger, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s council of outside economic advisers, said the countries in the euro zone shouldn’t add any more austerity programs, Passauer Neue Presse reported.

Such measures could lead to a downward spiral and need to be delayed until the economy recovers, the newspaper cited Bofinger as saying in an interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Berlin at kmatussek@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@Bloomberg.net.