Team
The people behind the ifo Institute offer the very high level of expertise and experience needed to fulfill our research and service mandate.
Fewer German Companies Plan to Increase Prices
Fewer German companies are planning to raise their prices in the next three months, finds the ifo Institute’s latest survey. For the economy as a whole, the ifo price expectations fell to 35.4 points in January, down from 40.1 points in December. Companies in manufacturing in particular, but also in the service sector, construction, and trade, are planning fewer price increases.
ifo Institute Lowers Growth Forecast to 3.3 Percent for Germany in 2021
The ifo Institute has lowered its forecast for economic growth for Germany in 2021. It now expects 3.3 percent growth, 0.4 percentage points lower than it did in March. In contrast, it raised its forecast for the coming year by 1.1 percentage points to 4.3 percent. “The main factor dampening growth in the short term are the bottlenecks in the supply of intermediate products,” explains Timo Wollmershäuser, Head of Forecasts at ifo. “Reopening businesses triggered a strong recovery, but this is now getting pushed back a bit further than we thought in the spring. The costs of the coronavirus crisis for the years 2020 to 2022 amount to EUR 382 billion. Our calculations assume that the German economy would have grown during that time by an average of 1.2 percent per year.”
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany Treads Water (October 2023)
The ifo Business Climate Index for eastern Germany rose minimally in October. The barometer of business sentiment for the regional economy in eastern Germany improved by 0.1 point to 89.9 points. While the eastern German companies surveyed assessed their current situation as slightly worse, they also raised their business expectations a little.
La pandémie de Covid-19 et les pénuries d'approvisionnement affectent le climat des affaires en Allemagne
Le moral des entreprises allemandes s'est dégradé, l'indice ifo du climat des affaires étant passé de 97,7 points en octobre à 96,5 points au mois de novembre. Les dirigeants d'entreprise allemands se sont déclarés moins satisfaits de leur situation actuelle. Ils ont aussi fait état d'un pessimisme accru quant à l'évolution des prochains mois. Les pénuries d'approvisionnement et la quatrième vague de la pandémie de Covid-19 leur causent des problèmes.
ifo Business Climate Remains Gloomy (October 2022)
Sentiment in the German economy continues to be grim. The ifo Business Climate Index dipped to 84.3 points in October, following 84.4 points in September. Companies were less satisfied with their current business. Their expectations improved, but they are still worried about the coming months. The German economy is facing a difficult winter.
ifo Institute: Short-Time Work Reaches Almost All Sectors in Germany
Employees are on short-time work in almost all industries in Germany. The highest numbers are in restaurants and catering, with 99 percent of businesses making use of short-time work, as well as in hotels, with 97 percent. This is the result of surveys the ifo Institute conducted in April. The key sector of automotive engineering also reports particularly high figures, with 94 percent of companies implementing short-time work. Across industries, the average is 50 percent. “This tops all figures from the 2009 financial crisis,” says Klaus Wohlrabe, Head of Surveys at ifo.
Allemagne: Des économistes préconisent un renforcement des mesures de soutien à l'économie :report de paiement et réduction des impôts exigibles – suppression avancée de l'impôt de solidarité – renoncement à l'équilibre budgétaire
Un groupe d'économistes de renom en Allemagne s'est déclaré favorable au train de mesures adopté par la coalition gouvernementale afin de soutenir l'économie allemande face à la crise du coronavirus. Ces économistes insistent cependant sur la nécessité d'aller plus loin. « L'extension de ces mesures s'impose dès aujourd'hui », déclarent les sept experts dans un document d'étude de 15 pages publié ce mercredi. « Le dogme d'un budget national équilibré doit être abandonné si cela s'avère nécessaire pour supprimer les effets préjudiciables du coronavirus ; il faudra en outre exploiter toutes les marges de manœuvre െoffertes par les règles du frein à l'endettement », précisent-ils.
ifo Institute: Help with Contact with Employer Improves Job Opportunities for Refugees
Refugees’ prospects on the German labor market are improved to a significant extent if they receive support when they first approach potential employers. This was the finding of a research project conducted by the ifo Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU), MEDAM, and the University of Glasgow. Refugees without asylum status and refugees with below-average qualifications see a particular benefit.
Situation Much Better for German Automakers
The current business situation for German automotive manufacturers has improved significantly, according to the ifo Business Survey. In June, the indicator climbed to 37.5 points, up from 28.4 points* in May. Expectations, however, fell to -56.9 points, down from -10.3 points* in May. “Automakers are experiencing great uncertainty, comparable to the early days of the war in Ukraine or to when the risk of gas rationing in manufacturing shot up last fall,” says Oliver Falck, Director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.
ifo Dresden: Number of Companies in Eastern Germany Threatened with Insolvency Down by Half
Despite the Russian attack on Ukraine, significantly fewer eastern German companies fear for their survival. In a survey conducted by the ifo Institute in April 2022, 6.2 percent of respondents felt that their survival was threatened. This is half the rate from the previous survey in January 2022 (13.9 percent).
German Economic Experts Rank Germany Only in the Middle of the Pack
Germany’s current attractiveness as a location for homegrown companies ranks only in the middle among its European peers. This is a finding of an international survey of economic experts conducted by the ifo Institute and the Swiss Economic Policy Institute. When asked to rate Germany’s attractiveness as a business location, the experts there awarded it 61.3 points out of a possible 100. Austria achieved 72.4 points, while Switzerland scored 72.6 points. “This isn’t a terrific result for the German economy. In particular, 78 percent of respondents in Germany think that their country has become less attractive as a business location over the past ten years. A full 48 percent expect the situation to worsen over the next ten years,” says ifo researcher Luisa Dörr.
L'Institut ifo salue l'accord entre les États-Unis et la Chine comme un premier pas
L'Institut ifo est en principe favorable à l'accord provisoire qui sera conclu ce mercredi entre les États-Unis et la Chine sur le règlement du différend commercial entre les deux pays. « Cet accord reste cependant insuffisant, car la renonciation à de nouvelles taxes douanières et quelques mesures cosmétiques ne font pas encore un traité commercial authentique et exhaustif », a déclaré Martin Braml, expert en commerce extérieur.
ifo Survey: Globalization Has Reached the Limit of Acceptance in the United States and Parts of Europe
Globalization has reached the limit of acceptance among the respective populations of the world’s major industrialized countries. This statement finds “complete or partial” approval among 70.4 percent of the economists surveyed in the US and 56.5 percent of those in the EU. This is the result of the ifo World Economic Survey conducted by the ifo Institute among 1,085 economists worldwide.
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany: Expectations Improved (January 2022)
Sentiment among companies in eastern Germany improved slightly in January. The downward trend that has persisted since last summer appears to have halted for the time being. The ifo Business Climate Index for the entire regional economy rose to 97.0 points, up from 96.1 points in December. Participating companies reported a marked decline in their assessments of the current situation. At the same time, they raised their expectations substantially compared to the previous month. This development was driven by manufacturing and the service sector.
ifo Institute: Withdrawal from Globalization would Lead to Loss of Prosperity
The call for a less integrated world expressed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic would lead to a loss of income and prosperity. This is according to a recent study by the ifo Institute. “Rolling back globalization, for example by bringing production back to Germany on a larger scale, would not be a solution to the current crisis,” says Lisandra Flach, Director of the ifo Center for International Economics.
ifo Institute / EconPol Europe: EU Exports to Russia Down to 37 Percent of Prewar Level
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in spring 2022, EU exports to Russia have fallen to 37 percent of their prewar level. “One reason for the still high volume of exports to Russia is that only 32 percent of all products from the EU are subject to sanctions. In the case of luxury goods, for example, there are sanctions against exports of champagne to Russia, but not of prosecco,” says Feodora Teti, Deputy Director of the ifo Center for International Economics. In addition, it is possible to deliver many of EU goods subject to sanctions to Russia indirectly via third countries, as evaluations of the new ifo sanctions database suggest.
ifo Export Expectations Edge Upward (December 2022)
Sentiment among German exporters has improved slightly. The ifo Export Expectations rose to plus 1.6 points in December, up from plus 0.9 points in November. When it comes to their exports, German manufacturers are cautiously optimistic as they head into the new year.
More German Jobs Lost to Shrinking Output of Combustion Engines than Employees Retiring
In the coming years, the number of German automotive jobs eliminated as the output of combustion engines shrinks will be higher than the number of employees retiring from the industry. This is the finding of a study conducted by the ifo Institute on behalf of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
Crisis Is Gradually Being Overcome – Align Actions to Lower Growth
The Corona pandemic still shapes the economic situation in Germany. A complete normalisation of contact-intensive activities is not to be expected in the short term. In addition, supply bottlenecks are hampering manufacturing for the time being. The German economy will reach normal capacity utilisation in the course of 2022. In their autumn report, the leading economic research institutes forecast that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rise by 2.4% in 2021 and by 4.8% in 2022.
Business Climate in Germany Drops Slightly for Solo Self-Employed Persons and Microenterprises
The business climate for microenterprises and solo self-employed persons has deteriorated slightly, according to the latest index for this segment (“Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index”).