The February report on Germany’s economic outlook prepared by the Ifo Institute was published on Monday, February 22nd.
According to the data released in the report, it was learned that the market morale increased more than expected in February and reached the highest level since October. It was stated that the industrial sector played the dominant role in the increase of market morale and industrial production did not slow down despite all the shut-down measures.
In the published report, it was reported that the business climate confidence and morale index, which was measured as 90.3 in January, rose to 92.4 points in February. In the survey conducted by Reuters among economists, the average estimate was 90.5 points.
Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement that the German economy has shown a solid portrait despite the shutdowns due to the strong stance of the industrial sector.
Ifo data were more positive than expected, it revealed that commercial actors in Germany were not affected much by the short-term negative conditions created by the closures and they were optimistic in the long term.
Last month, the German government cut its year-end GDP growth forecast from 4.4% to 3% and predicted that the economy would not be able to reach the level before the pandemic before mid-2022.
However, Klaus Wohlrabe, one of the economists of Ifo, said in a statement to the Reuter Agency that the majority of industrial companies revised their production plans upward and their export expectations increased significantly, and that the order books of the companies in the manufacturing sector were mostly full and the other morale indicators in the survey were also specified.
Source: Reuters