2023-08-23 02:00:10
In Berlin, the return to politics was to mark a new beginning. The government wanted to make people forget the clouds that are gathering over the economy, the concerns about the country’s competitiveness and the incessant quarrels within the tripartite coalition which have been undermining the executive’s balance sheet for months.
The ace ! Two humiliating blunders were, in a few days, enough to dampen good resolutions: the trip undertaken to Australia and New Zealand by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, was interrupted, then completely canceled on August 15… because of failure of the government plane. On August 16, a plan of tax relief for companies, proposed by the liberal finance minister, Christian Lindner, was blocked by the green minister for the family, Lisa Paus.
We will have to do better to dissipate the gloom that has befallen the country. “It feels like 2002”, confided, in mid-July, a Social Democratic official close to the government, already in business at the time. Growth was then anemic, the country had five million unemployed, reunification weighed heavily on the state budget and industry suffered from serious problems of competitiveness. “I fear that we are falling back into a typical German tendency to self-flagellate and mope”continues this official, worried to see the progression of the far-right AfD party, to more than 20% in the polls.
For the past few weeks, the fear of dropping out has been readable everywhere. « Made in Germany, c’est fini ! » launched the weekly The time August 3. “Help, our economy is collapsing! » titled Bildthe country’s most widely read daily, on the same day. “America’s success is Germany’s decline”added The worldAugust 16.
Industrial production down
Main reason for this depression: the stagnation of the economy in the spring, after two quarters of negative growth, which dampened hopes of a vigorous recovery of the economy in the summer, once the energy shock of the winter. This stagnation could turn into a real recession if the final figures for the growth of gross domestic product in the second quarter, published on Friday August 25, turn negative.
For its part, the International Monetary Fund now anticipates a recession (-0.3%) in 2023, and places Germany last in the ranking of major economies, behind the United States, Italy and France. In question, the still high inflation (6.2% in July, against 5.3% in the euro zone), which weighs on consumption. Industrial production is down and construction is in free fall, under the effect of rising interest rates and the high cost of raw materials. As for the automotive industry, it is facing much more aggressive competition in electric vehicles than expected.
You have 54.5% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
1692756739
#Germany #doubts #ability #emerge #economic #lethargy