Ifo | The current situation in the German automotive industry deteriorated sharply in August. In the ifo survey, the value of the indicator fell to minus 10 points, down from plus 7.5 points in July. Expectations, however, brightened somewhat, from minus 4 points to zero. This is the first time since April that the overall climate was below zero. “The general darkening of mood in the economy is also reflected…
The downturn in the German private sector economy deepened in August, as business activity fell for the second month running and at a fasterrate in August. This is according to the latest ‘flash’ PMI® data from S&P Global. The deepening downturn was linked by surveyed businesses to a combination of factors, S&P Global noted. These included uncertainty, high inflation and rising interest rates. That said, companies’ expectations registered an uptick…
Econ Pol Europe | In the short term, a halt to Russian energy imports could cost Germany up to 3 percent of its gross domestic product. This is the result of estimates by the EconPol Europe network calculated with a simulation model. Oil and coal could be replaced by imports from other countries, but it is harder to find replacements for gas, the authors write. “Germany should take quick and…
Germany’s coalition parties agreed on Wednesday a roughly 13 billion euro package of measures to help households cope with surging energy prices, including scrapping a surcharge levied on electricity bills to support green power, as reported by Reuters. Energy prices in Germany have soared in the last year, and fears of an escalation of the crisis between Ukraine and gas supplier Russia are set to push them higher still. Germany’s…
Lidia Conde | Sebastian Dullien is Director of the IMK Düsseldorf. Q: Germans have spent 200 billion euros less since the beginning of the epidemic. Will all this money flow into consumption? A: Not all of it, but a considerable part will be spent. Studies conducted by our institute show that Germans are not only planning to buy new consumer durables such as cars, furniture or houses, but also to…
Both the IFO German business climate indices for October and the Bundesbank’s latest monthly bulletin point to a stagnation of the German economy in Q4 2021. Germany’s business climate index, compiled by the IFO institute, declined in October to 97.7 points from 100.4 points in the previous month, and below the 98.0 points expected by analysts. After four consecutive months of decline, the index was at its lowest level in…
The coronavirus crisis threatens the survival of 15 percent of German companies, according to their responses to the ifo Business Survey for November. “That’s an improvement over June, when the figure was 21 percent,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo. “Nevertheless, 86 percent of travel agencies and tour operators currently feel threatened, as do 76 percent of hotels and 62 percent of restaurants.”
Santander Credit Research | The scrapping programme to remove older vehicles and replace them with new ones helped Germany’s economy to emerge quickly from the consequences of the financial crisis a decade ago. Senior managers in the automotive industry, as well as trade unions, are due to meet with the German chancellery in Berlin on May 5 to discuss ways of overcoming the economic crisis. And this programme may be on the table.
Banca March | German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is considering temporarily lifting the suspension of the country’s debt limit in what would be a major change in the fiscal policy of Europe’s leading econom.
Lidia Conde (Frankfurt) | The fourth globalization now punishes the German middle class, which perceives how the revolution accelerates and introduces new elements such as the competence of Indian computer experts operating from home: they do not need to emigrate to work.