The Ifo Business Climate Index for trade and industry in Eastern Germany dropped sharply in April. The Eastern German companies surveyed are once again less satisfied with their current business situation than they were in the previous month. They are also considerably more pessimistic about their six-month business outlook.
The business climate in Eastern German manufacturing deteriorated significantly this month. Eastern German manufacturers assess both their current business situation and their future business expectations less positively than last month. As far as average and seasonally-adjusted capacity utilisation is concerned, there was a slight decrease compared to January. Manufacturers continue to expect positive impulses from exports. Eastern German manufacturers have slightly less ambitious plans to increase their staff numbers than in March.
The business climate indicator at both levels of trade fell sharply in Eastern Germany. Eastern German wholesalers and retailers report a less satisfactory business situation. Business expectations, on the other hand, developed in different ways. While Eastern German retailers expect business to develop less favourably, wholesalers are slightly less pessimistic.
The business climate also clouded over in Eastern German construction. Eastern German constructors assess their current business situation somewhat less favourably than last month. They are also pessimistic about their business outlook.
Joachim Ragnitz and Marcel Thum Executive directors, Dresden Branch of the Ifo Institute
Ifo Business Climate for Eastern Germany Deteriorates Significantly Ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany - Results of the April 2012 Ifo Business Survey Document Size: ca. 100 kb
The Ifo Business Climate for Eastern Germany (from January 1994) The table is in Excel-format for facilitating further processing by the user. Long time-series of the Business Climate for Eastern German trade and industry and its two components, the business situation and the expectations Document Size: ca. 40 kb
The Ifo Business Climate in Eastern Germany is based on ca. 1,200 monthly survey responses of firms in manufacturing, construction, wholesaling and retailing. The firms are asked to give their assessments of the current business situation and their expectations for the next six months. They can characterise their situation as “good”, “satisfactory” or “poor” and their business expectations for the next six months as “more favourable”, “unchanged” or “more unfavourable”. The balance value of the current business situation is the difference of the percentages of the responses “good” and “poor”, the balance value of the expectations is the difference of the percentages of the responses “more favourable” and “more unfavourable”. The business climate is a transformed mean of the balances of the business situation and the expectations. For calculating the index values the transformed balances are all normalized to the average of the year 2005.
Dresden Branch
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