Milan- More and more clouds are gathering over the German economy. The ZEW index of German investor sentiment collapsed in August to 19.2 points from 41.8 in July, a performance much worse than expectations for a smaller decline to 34.0. The ZEW component relating to current conditions fell to -77.3 from -68.9. Expectations had been for a decline to -74.5.
“Germany’s economic prospects are collapsing,” said the president of ZEW. Achim Wambach“The economic outlook is likely to be weighed down by heightened uncertainty, driven by monetary policy uncertainty, disappointing US economic data and growing concerns about escalating conflict in the Middle East.”
The long German slowdown
By Carlo Bastasin
In recent weeks, signs of weakness in the Teutonic economy have multiplied. In the second quarter The country’s GDP fell by 0.1%. In contrast to +0.2% in the euro area. Last week, another negative signal came from exports, which fell by 3.4% compared to May and by 3.4% year-on-year, while imports increased by 0.3% month-on-month and fell by 6% compared to June 2023. The only positive indicators last week were industrial orders, which rose by 3.9%, and industrial production, which grew by 1.4% in June, both above expectations.
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