ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany Blossoms with the Start of Spring (March 2024)

The ifo Business Climate Index Eastern Germany rose considerably in March. The barometer of business sentiment for the regional economy in eastern Germany climbed to 90.0 points, up from 88.6 points in February. The eastern German companies surveyed provided assessments of their business situation that were somewhat better than the previous month, and they also raised their business expectations slightly.

Download

In eastern German manufacturing, the business climate turned much brighter in March. The companies surveyed assessed their current business situation as substantially better than in the previous month. Their expectations for future business development improved noticeably.

The ifo Business Climate Index rose slightly in the eastern German service sector in March. Compared to the previous month, the service providers surveyed raised both their assessments of the current situation and their business expectations for the coming months slightly.

The business climate in eastern German trade was definitely brighter in March. Both retailers and wholesalers in eastern Germany reported slightly better business than in the previous month. At the same time, their expectations improved markedly.

In eastern German construction, the business climate was a touch cooler in March. The construction companies surveyed stated that their business situation was now a little better than in February. But they lowered their expectations for future business somewhat.

Joachim Ragnitz and Marcel Thum
Executive Directors, Dresden Branch of the ifo Institute

ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany

(Index, 2015 = 100, seasonally adjusted)

	03/23	04/23	05/23	06/23	07/23	08/23	09/23	10/23	11/23	12/23	01/24	02/24	03/24
Climate	95.2	96.3	96.0	93.5	91.7	90.6	89.7	90.0	90.6	88.6	89.0	88.6	90.0
Situation	99.3	98.6	99.1	97.9	95.1	92.9	92.3	91.8	92.7	90.7	90.7	90.5	91.7
Expectations	91.2	94.2	92.9	89.3	88.4	88.3	87.2	88.4	88.5	86.5	87.3	86.7	88.3

Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute

ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany by Sector

(Balances, seasonally adjusted)

	03/23	04/23	05/23	06/23	07/23	08/23	09/23	10/23	11/23	12/23	01/24	02/24	03/24
Eastern Germany	5.4	7.9	7.0	1.7	-2.1	-4.5	-6.4	-5.7	-4.5	-8.8	-8.0	-8.8	-5.8
Manufacturing	-0.5	6.9	3.4	-4.2	-8.0	-10.5	-5.7	-7.0	-7.1	-12.6	-8.9	-11.1	-0.6
Service sector	17.6	18.1	17.4	14.4	10.9	7.4	3.9	6.1	5.1	0.4	-0.1	-0.8	1.1
Trade	-21.9	-21.4	-22.2	-23.1	-28.9	-29.2	-31.8	-26.6	-22.9	-30.0	-32.5	-32.9	-23.7
Construction	-14.0	-16.7	-17.1	-19.1	-21.0	-27.2	-31.9	-32.0	-26.1	-30.7	-33.7	-31.0	-32.9

Source: ifo Business Survey.
© ifo Institute

Chart: ifo Business Climate Eastern Germany, ifo Business Survey, March 2024

Chart: Business Situation and Expectations Eastern Germany by Sector, ifo Business Survey, March 2024

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.