German Economy Contracts Thanks to Energy Crisis and Interest Rate Hikes
A bull and bear sculpture is seen in front of the German stock market in Frankfurt, central GermanyInternationalIndiaAfricaJames TweedieWestern sanctions on Russia’s energy exports over its special operation in Ukraine have fuelled a pan-European energy crisis, with a knock-on effect on general inflation while reducing industrial output and demand.Germany’s economy declined in the fourth quarter of 2022 as soaring energy prices and interest rates took their toll on demand.Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.2 per cent from the third quarter to the fourth, compared to the 0.5 per cent growth recorded for the previous three months. “After the German economy held up well in the first three quarters despite difficult conditions, economic output decreased slightly in the fourth quarter,” German federal statistics office Destatis said on Monday.The statistics agency said a drop in private consumer spending was the main cause of the slump, as the federal Bundesbank has raised the baseline interest rate to 1.62 per cent in a bid to control inflation.Franziska Palmas, a senior Europe economist at Capital Economics, said the German economy would “at best flatline in the first half of 2023 and only grow very slowly thereafter.”WorldUkrainian Conflict to Cost German Economy $190Bln, 4.5% of GDP in 2023, Study Says24 January, 04:34 GMTGermany, with its large heavy industrial base, has suffered acutely from the rise in energy prices caused by sanctions on Russian gas, oil and coal imports in response to its de-Nazification operation in Ukraine.But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has continued to hand over much of the German armed forces’ most expensive equipment to the Kiev regime, including 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 14 Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks and a billion-Euro Patriot surface-to-air missile battery.