After a decline in gross domestic product at the end of 2022 and stagnation in the first quarter, the government expects growth to accelerate in the coming months. But some indices are not good, as shown by the severe decline in industrial production in March, announced on Monday.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibault
Analysts have the blues. Several of them, interviewed this Monday, May 8, believe that the improvement in the economic situation in Germany in the second half could deflate like a balloon. If recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted a very slight recession for 2023, the German government has revised its forecasts upwards.
The significant drop in industrial production in March of -3.4%, according to figures published Monday by the Federal Statistical Office, higher than expected, casts a chill. After the rally at the start of the year, the relapse is not encouraging. The automotive sector was severely affected with a drop of 6.5%, but also construction (4.6%) where the rise in rates and the increase in prices played a negative role. Energy-intensive industries are still suffering from price increases even though they have slowed down, their activity fell by 3.3%.
Bad news
industrial production rose again at the start of the year, allowing Germany to avoid recession by a hair’s breadth, after shortages of supply of industrial components and inflation which affected the German economy.
But this bad index published this morning comes after two other bad results a few days ago for industrial orders, which fell sharply in March, by 10.7%, and exports.
The German government expects growth of 0.4% for the whole of 2023.
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