The mood in the executive suites of German business brightened again in November. The Ifo business climate rose by 0.4 points to 87.3 points compared to the previous month, as the Munich Ifo Institute announced on Friday in its survey of around 9,000 managers. This is the third increase in a row. Experts surveyed by Reuters had expected 87.5 points. The companies assessed their current business situation somewhat better. The pessimism regarding expectations for the coming months also decreased: “The German economy is stabilizing at a low level,” said Ifo President Clemens Fuest.
The local economy slowed its decline somewhat in November, as shown by the purchasing managers’ index from the financial services provider S&P Global. Nevertheless, there is a risk of recession after the weak performance in the third quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.1 percent in the summer. The economic outlook is not very rosy: The EU Commission predicts that Germany will be the only major economy in the euro area to shrink this year, with a loss of 0.3 percent in GDP. Next year, GDP is expected to increase by 0.8 percent – which would mean that the Federal Republic of Germany, along with Finland, would be at the bottom of the euro zone in this respect in 2024.