Although inflation has taken hold in Germany, the pessimism among German companies is slowly starting to soften a little. Just not in construction.
This is shown by the so-called Ifo index, which measures business confidence in Germany.
According to the October survey, the mood among thousands of German companies has started to improve for the first time since May.
Coming from historically low levels
Jeppe Juul Borre, chief economist at Arbejdernes Landsbank, emphasizes that confidence is coming from a historically low level.
– Economic confidence is still historically very low, and for good reason, he writes in a comment.
– The challenges are pressing in the form of high inflation, rising interest rates and great uncertainty about the business outlook.
According to him, it is especially the expectations for the future that pull the overall index up a bit.
Bleak view on the future
However, German companies in the construction sector look at the future even less optimistically than in previous years. Here, faith in the future has also fallen to a historically low level within the past month.
The low business confidence indicates that the German economy is in decline, which is bad for Danish exports, writes Allan Sørensen, chief economist at Dansk Industri.
Most export jobs in Germany
– Germany is one of our largest export markets, which gives rise to the most export jobs in Denmark, he writes.
– It is also the market where we have the most subsidiaries.
According to Jeppe Juul Borre, exports to Germany employ more than 100,000 Danish jobs.
The Ifo index is compiled by the German Ifo institute and is based on around 9,000 companies within the manufacturing industry, the service sector, trade and construction.
The companies assess the current business situation and their expectations for the next six months.
Ritzau/Bernt Hertz Jensen, FemernReport
