In Germany, an improvement in business outlook was recorded, which turned out to be higher than preliminary expectations and gave rise to cautious hopes that the country’s economic system would leave the downturn zone, which turned it into a kind of outsider of the eurozone.
The Ifo Institute’s expectations gauge rose in March and was fixed at 87.5. Last month, this figure was 84.4. The March Ifo expectations gauge is the highest since May last year and exceeds the indicator of 84.7, which was predicted by analysts surveyed by the media.
The president of the mentioned Institute, Clemens Fuest, during a conversation with journalists, said that currently German companies are really betting on the rise of the global economy. At the same time, he noted that the order books of the specified firms are still decreasing, but despite this, optimistic expectations are fixed.
At the end of 2023, many analysts said that the German economic system was probably in the zone of a recession scenario implementing. The Bundesbank said this week that the shrinking of the economy in the first quarter of 2024 is likely due to the lingering weakness of the manufacturing sector.
Business surveys conducted by S&P Global this week confirmed the mentioned opinion. In the German service sector, conditions have improved and are approaching stagnation. At the same time, an index of factory activity fell below the signaling expansion.
Currently, the opinion is spreading among experts that consumer activity in the coming months will ensure a moderate recovery of the German economy. Inflation is nowadays easing in Germany. Also, wage growth is recorded in this country against the background of a stable situation in the labor market.
As we have reported earlier, Germany to Help Its Tech Industry to Compete With Silicon Valley.
