Germany expects economy to shrink in 2024 – FT

The German government has worsened its forecast for the country’s economy in 2024: GDP is expected to decline by 0.2 per cent instead of the 0.3 per cent growth forecast in April, the Financial Times said.

 

According to the newspaper, Germany’s GDP will decrease by 0.3 per cent in 2023. The decline for two consecutive years will be recorded for the first time since the early 2000s, the publication emphasises.

‘The situation is unsatisfactory. The German economy has not shown strong growth since 2018’, – the newspaper quotes the words of the Minister of Economy of the Federal Republic of Germany Robert Habeck.

According to him, there is an urgent need to urgently address ‘structural problems’ in the economy, among them high energy costs, a shortage of skilled labour, and excessive bureaucracy. Economic problems are exacerbated by global challenges, the minister concluded.

We will remind, earlier, the former head of the Council of economic experts under the government of the FRG Bert Rürup said that the German economy from 2019 is growing as slowly as never in the history of the state – since 1949.