ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany: Sentiment Improves Again (November 2022)
Sentiment among companies in eastern Germany improved markedly in November. The ifo Business Climate Index for the entire regional economy rose to 89.3 points, up from 86.3 points in October. The companies surveyed raised their overall assessments of the current situation perceptibly. Their outlook for the next six months improved appreciably.
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In eastern German manufacturing, the business climate was marginally gloomier in November. This was largely due to a clear drop in current business. The manufacturing companies surveyed raised their expectations for the next six months somewhat.
In the eastern German service sector, sentiment improved significantly in November. The service companies surveyed are no longer so pessimistic. Assessments of the current situation and business expectations both improved substantially.
In eastern German trade, the barometer of business sentiment rose slightly in November. While the businesses surveyed assessed their current business as worse than in the previous month, they raised their expectations for the next six months considerably.
In eastern German construction, the business climate turned noticeably brighter in November. Assessments of the current situation and business expectations saw a major increase among the companies surveyed.
Joachim Ragnitz and Marcel Thum
Executive Directors, Dresden Branch of the ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany
(Index, 2015 = 100, seasonally adjusted)
| 11/21 | 12/21 | 01/22 | 02/22 | 03/22 | 04/22 | 05/22 | 06/22 | 07/22 | 08/22 | 09/22 | 10/22 | 11/22 | |
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Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany by Sector
(Balances, seasonally adjusted)
| 11/21 | 12/21 | 01/22 | 02/22 | 03/22 | 04/22 | 05/22 | 06/22 | 07/22 | 08/22 | 09/22 | 10/22 | 11/22 | |
| Eastern Germany | |||||||||||||
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| Construction |
Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute
The ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany is based on approx. 1,700 monthly survey responses from firms in manufacturing, construction, wholesale, and retail. The firms are asked to give their assessments of the current business situation and their expectations for the next six months. They can characterize their situation as “good,” “satisfactory,” or “poor” and their business expectations for the next six months as “more favorable,” “unchanged,” or “more unfavorable.” 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 favorable” and “more unfavorable.” The business climate is a transformed mean of the balances of the business situation and the expectations. For the purpose of calculating the index values, the transformed balances are all normalized to the average of the year 2015.
