Munich (dpa -AFX) – The mood in the German economy has deteriorated for the first time in half a year and has given hope for an economic recovery. The IFO business climate dropped by 1.2 points to 87.7 points in September, as the Munich research institute reports on Wednesday. The approximately 9,000 companies surveyed have rated the current situation and the evaluation of future business less. The business climate in particular “noticeably deteriorated”. The course of the euro gave in clearly.
“Hope for economic recovery suffers a damper,” IFO President Clemens Fuest commented on the result of the survey. Analysts were surprised by the setback of the most important German economic barometer. They had expected a better mood in the companies and had an average of an increase in the IFO index to 89.4 points.
In the industrial companies, the number of new orders has dropped again, according to the message. “The glimmer of hope that showed himself to the investment goods manufacturers in the previous month has faded.” The IFO Institute also emphasized that the expectations of companies from the field of services to future business have deteriorated significantly. This applies in particular to the area of transport and logistics.
Only in the main building industry did the IFO survey show a bright spot. Here the mood has increased again. The companies were therefore a little more satisfied with the ongoing shops. The expectations for the coming months would also have brightened up.
Finally, mood data from the German economy showed a mixed picture. A recently published survey among purchasing managers made it clear that the mood in the industrial companies is still in crisis mode, while the mood for service providers has improved significantly.
The German economy is in a long recession. In 2024 and 2023, economic output had shrunk noticeably. This year, too, the economy can hardly get off the spot. In the second quarter, economic output shrank by 0.3 percent to the previous quarter.
For the third quarter, however, signs of improvement had recently shown. As can be seen from the latest monthly report by the Bundesbank, summer could have gone better for the German economy. The Bundesbank experts have promised a slight increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter./Jkr/sl/jha/