German Business Confidence Slips

Sept. 26, 2006
For the third month in a row, business confidence in Germany. Although the fall was lower than expected, analysts said it pointed to a bigger drop in the months ahead.   The widely watched monthly Ifo survey stood at 104.9 points in September compared ...

For the third month in a row, business confidence in Germany. Although the fall was lower than expected, analysts said it pointed to a bigger drop in the months ahead. The widely watched monthly Ifo survey stood at 104.9 points in September compared with 105.0 in August.

"The results suggest that generally robust economic growth will continue, but we must expect a slowdown at the start of next year," Ifo board member Gebhard Flaig said.

The German economy faces a number of hurdles next year, starting with the introduction of a higher value-added tax, which is rising to 19% from 16%. The VAT rise is expected to put the brakes on already weak consumer spending, while Germany is also expected to be adversely affected by a U.S. economy which is starting to drag its feet.

Growth of the German economy, the biggest in the 12-country eurozone, is at its highest level for five years, although it is set to slow in the third quarter of this year.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Discover How an Eye Tracking Study Improves Training Procedures

Oct. 29, 2023
Did you know that your training processes can be streamlined by visualizing and analyzing key skills within your employee base? Find out how we use eye tracking to capture advanced...

Process Mining For Dummies

Nov. 19, 2023
Here it is. Everything you need to know about process mining in a single book, written in the easy-to-understand, hard-to-forget style that ‘For Dummies’ manages so effortlessly...

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!