“The government must act urgently. But the Constitutional Court’s ruling could force austerity measures on the government that could lead to an additional dampening of growth.”
Moritz Kraemer, the chief economist at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, also said in a TV interview recently: “I don’t want to argue about whether it’s plus 0.2 percent or minus 0.2 percent. The fact is, we are stagnating.
“We are moving in a kind of ‘corrugated economy’. It goes up and down a little bit, but actually we are lying flat on the ground.”
Germany is to see the least amount of growth out of all Eurozone countries with an expected increase of 0.8 percent, according to European Commission expectations.
OECD economist Isabell Koske told Deutsche Welle that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent energy crisis, impacted Germany more than other countries.
She said: “The energy crisis hit Germany more than other countries because industry plays a more important role in this country and dependence on Russian gas was much higher than in other countries.”
Germany is the biggest economy in the European Union, meaning the country’s woes could have huge ramifications for the rest of the bloc.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Eurozone likely already went into recession in 2023.
The bloc’s economy contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter, official data has shown, so a second quarter of contraction would meet the definition of recession.
Hamburg Commercial Bank’s chief economist Cyrus de la Rubia also said: “Amid a relentless slump in the manufacturing sector of the Eurozone, the HCOB PMI has shown little improvement compared to November.
“It paints a bleak picture for the Eurozone and would mean that the Eurozone entered a recession in the third quarter.”
