Germany again failed to reach positive economic indicators. This is reported by Bloomberg agency with reference to analytical specialists.
Analysts at Bloomberg, following a minimal increase in Germany’s economic performance in just one quarter of 2023, said they now expect German gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow in the three months to March. That compares with a +0.1 per cent forecast last month.
This new analysis is in line with the German Federal Bank’s forecast. The Bundesbank said that even if the household income situation improves, output could “at best slow down” in the first quarter.
A third of respondents in the Bloomberg survey are even more pessimistic, predicting a decline in economic indicators. That, in turn, would mean Germany is in recession.
“The data still point to a moderate contraction in the first quarter, although it seems that the bottom is near,” Rabobank analyst Eric-Jan van Harn stated.
The agency emphasised that Germany was the only G7 economy to contract last year and a growing number of economists, including from the country’s two biggest lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, are predicting another contraction in 2024. The outlook for the coming years is not much more promising, with the Council of Economic Advisers predicting potential growth of just 0.4 per cent.
Earlier, the British newspaper The Telegraph, citing Eurostat, reported that despite sanctions against Russia, EU countries imported €6.1bn worth of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2023 – more than half of all exports from Russia.
