BERLIN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- More than one in three German companies expect their business to deteriorate, up from 23 percent in spring, according to a survey published by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) on Thursday.
Of the 24,000 companies from almost all sectors and regions in Germany that were surveyed, only 13 percent expected an improvement over the next 12 months. Overall, business expectations dropped significantly from minus five points to minus 22 points.
"So far, we see no signs of a self-sustaining upswing -- on the contrary, companies have adjusted their important investment plans and employment intentions downward, each into the negative," DIHK Managing Director Martin Wansleben said.
Although 30 percent of respondents rated their current business still as "good," the share of companies in Germany assessing their situation as "poor" had risen by 6 percentage points to 21 percent, the survey found.
Energy and raw material prices were the most commonly named business risks for German companies, followed by a shortage of skilled workers, weak domestic demand and rising labor costs.
In view of the "overall gloomy outlook," DIHK expects economic output to decline by 0.5 percent in 2023. For next year, the association expects Europe's largest economy to stagnate.
"We are emerging from the crisis more slowly than expected in a difficult geopolitical environment," Germany's Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said in the autumn projection in mid-October. Nevertheless, the government expects economic growth of 1.3 percent in 2024. ■
