New Developments on the Ifo World Economic Survey

There will be three changes to the Ifo Institute’s international business survey, the Ifo World Economic Survey, in 2017. In line with the Ifo Business Climate, the balance methodology will be applied, gross domestic product will be used to aggregate the country groups, and these groups will be established according to the definition by the International Monetary Fund. The switch to the balance methodology means that the survey results now comply with international standards. This should make data more intuitive and easier to present in the future. The newly calculated country aggregates, as well as the new country weighting, should also prove a welcome addition for users, since the construction of WES economic indicators will correspond to the standards used by international organisations.