High energy and raw material prices as well as delivery bottlenecks are clouding the business expectations of companies in Germany. Against this background, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) is lowering its growth forecast for this year. Growth in gross domestic product of 3.0 percent is now expected, after 3.6 percent previously. “This means that we will probably not reach the pre-crisis level of our economic output until the middle of the year,” said DIHK General Manager Martin Wansleben on Friday.
In addition to the corona crisis and delivery bottlenecks, he named the sharp rise in energy and raw material prices and the shortage of skilled workers as the greatest stress factors. In addition, there would be further cost increases to be expected as a result of the transformation in climate protection. Many companies feared that their position on the world markets would deteriorate.
The economy is assessing both its current situation and the outlook for 2022 as a whole more negatively than before the turn of the year. Just under a quarter of companies expect business to improve in the next twelve months, according to an economic survey of almost 28,000 companies at the beginning of the year. The federal government expects gross domestic product to grow by 3.6 percent in 2022.
“The economy is holding its breath,” says Wansleben. A cautiously optimistic mood still prevails in the companies. “But many do not know how to proceed because of great uncertainty.” (dpa)