The German retail players are bleak

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 08. 25. 11:15

In August, the German business sentiment index of the ifo economic research institute weakened more than expected, and the outlook and the current situation also worsened among economic actors. The index also fell in retail trade. Compared to July, traders assessed their current situation as much weaker and were more pessimistic about the prospects.

The ifo Institute for Economic Research of the University of Munich (ifo Institut – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München e.V.) announced on Friday that the business sentiment index in Germany fell to the lowest level since October last year, to 85.7 points from 87.4 points in July. In August, the indicator weakened for the fourth consecutive month, becoming worse than the average of 86.7 points expected by analysts.

Among the components of the index, the assessment of the prospects was weaker than the estimated 83.8 points, it became 82.6 in August after 83.6 points in July. The indicator quantifying the assessment of the current situation was the weakest since August 2020, at 89 points after 91.4 points in July, worse than the expected 90 points.