Looking abroad can hurt. While the German economy shrank in 2023, all other major EU economies grew. The USA is booming, as is China, and even Vladimir Putin’s Russia is reporting growth. The comparison with other countries hurts because a shrinking economy reduces incomes. Which reinforces the feeling among many Germans that they have been living in a permanent crisis since the pandemic, and this in delicate times of the AfD’s rise. But there is even a real alternative for Germany: the federal government can improve the situation – and so can the European Central Bank.
The German economy is shrinking because the traffic lights make mistakes – opinion
