Ifo business confidence index rises in Germany in February
The Munich-based Institute for Economic Research (Ifo) published the results of the February German Business Survey, conducted with the participation of approximately 9,000 companies.
Thus, the confidence index of the business environment in industry and commerce in Germany, which stood at 90.1 points in January, rose to 91.1 points this month, despite the negative impact of the energy crisis and high inflation. caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The market expectation for the index, which rose for the fourth consecutive month, was to increase to 91.2 points.
During the period in question, the Ifo Expectations Index went from 86.4 to 88.5 points, while the Current Situation Index decreased from 94.1 to 93.9 points.
‘THE RISK OF A RESTRAINT IN THE FIRST QUARTER IS STILL HIGH’
The president of Ifo, Clemens Fuest, in his balance on the subject, affirmed that the future expectations in German companies have improved, “The German economy is slowly trying to get out of the period of weakness.” he used the phrase.
Carsten Brzeski, Head of Global Macro Research at ING and Chief Eurozone Economist, noted that the slight drop in the Present Situation Index in the second month indicates that the risk of recession in the German economy remains “high” in the first month. quarter.
“The Ifo business confidence index data released today is good news and fits the picture of gradually improving confidence in the economy,” Brzeski said. But at the same time, there’s no reason to start partying.” She made the assessment of him.
In the last quarter of 2022, the German economy contracted by 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter due to the energy crisis and record inflation.
Economists expect GDP to fall further in the first quarter of this year as Europe’s largest economy is in recession.
The technical recession is expressed as “two quarters of a GDP contraction”.
Germany experienced its first recession since 2009 in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 outbreak after 10 years of good economic growth.
In Germany, the government raised its growth expectation, previously announced as minus 0.4 percent, to 0.2 percent on January 25 of this year. (AA)
Source: Sozcu
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