ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany: Sentiment Improves Further (December 2022)
Sentiment among companies in eastern Germany once again improved strongly in December. The ifo Business Climate Index for the entire regional economy rose to 92.0 points, up from 89.4 points in November. The companies surveyed raised their overall assessments of the current situation perceptibly, while their outlook for the next six months improved considerably. The economy is on an upward trend.
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In eastern German manufacturing, the business climate brightened appreciably in December. Both the business situation and the outlook of the manufacturing companies surveyed rose sharply.
In the eastern German service sector, sentiment improved somewhat in December. Assessments of the current situation and business expectations both improved a little.
In eastern German trade, the barometer of business sentiment rose marginally in December. Compared to the previous month, the businesses surveyed gave somewhat improved assessments of their current business. They also raised their expectations for the next six months slightly.
In eastern German construction, the business climate was somewhat cooler in December. Participating construction companies reported a slight decline in their assessments of the current situation, but their business expectations were slightly higher.
Joachim Ragnitz and Marcel Thum
Executive Directors, Dresden Branch of the ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany
(Index, 2015 = 100, seasonally adjusted)
| 12/21 | 01/22 | 02/22 | 03/22 | 04/22 | 05/22 | 06/22 | 07/22 | 08/22 | 09/22 | 10/22 | 11/22 | 12/22 | |
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Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute
ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany by Sector
(Balances, seasonally adjusted)
| 12/21 | 01/22 | 02/22 | 03/22 | 04/22 | 05/22 | 06/22 | 07/22 | 08/22 | 09/22 | 10/22 | 11/22 | 12/22 | |
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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.
