The weaknesses in various Eurozone countries are depressing the value of the Euro but this is contributing to the continued strong exports from Germany. The GDP growth forecast for 2010 has been revised upwards to 3.5%. A second recession in the US and global reduction of stimulus programmes through 2011 could depress exports but the hope is that lower unemployment and wage increases would favour the strengthening domestic consumption to be able to compensate.
Exports helped the German economy rebound quickly
Deutsche Welle: German economy on course for strongest growth in decades
Five leading think tanks have predicted that the German economy will grow by 3.5 percent in 2010, up from a more modest prediction of 1.5 percent earlier this year. Unemployment is expected to drop below three million. In their twice-yearly report, Germany’s five leading economic think tanks also included ….. a sharp increase in exports in the first half of the year (which has) fuelled the rebound from the deepest recession since World War II.
“The upturn is stable,” said Kai Carstensen from the Munich-based Ifo institute, one of the think tanks involved in the report. “In Germany, it looks good. The risks are above all overseas.” In Germany, Berlin plans to bring the country’s finances back into shape by cutting back on government spending. The move could lead to the deficit falling below three percent of gross domestic product, the ceiling set out for Euopean Union countries that use the euro currency.
And Der Spiegel points out that
the DAX, Germany’s stock exchange index, topped 6,400 on Wednesday, reaching a level not seen since just days before the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
The report also indicated that climbing tax revenues will result in a 2011 budget deficit of just 2.7 percent, below the 3.0 percent maximum allowed by European Union rules. German wages are forecast to rise by up to 2.8 percent in 2011. The economic experts who authored the report anticipate that domestic consumption will continue to be strong next year as a result.
The report, which is used by the German government to develop its own economic forecasts, was not without warnings. A renewed recession in the US remains possible, the report warns, as does a massive correction in the overheated Chinese real estate market.
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