In its new economic forecast for 2025, the Handelsblatt Research Institute (HRI) assumes that the German economy will shrink in the third decline in a row. There has not been such a “long dry spell” in German history since 1949.
“The German economy is in the midst of its biggest crisis in post-war history. The pandemic, energy crisis and inflation have made Germans poorer on average,” says Handelsblatt chief economist Bert Rürup. With growth potential down to a modest 0.5%, there is no improvement in sight any time soon, “as the economy is at the beginning of a strong aging spurt.”
