Fight against sluggish economy
DIHK President calls for a change in economic policy
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The German economy is sluggish and there are no major economic policy countermeasures. This is why the President of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce is insisting on stimulus from politicians. He sees the Growth Opportunities Act as the first encouraging signal.
In view of the sluggish economy, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) has called for a “turning point in economic policy”. “The weeks until Easter are of great importance for the further development of the German economy. Because everything that is now decided in Berlin and Brussels in terms of burdens or, in return, relief, has a direct impact on the investment plans of companies,” said DIHK President Peter Adrian to the “Rheinische Post”.
“In view of the economic recession, all political leaders at federal and state level must now seize the opportunity to usher in a concrete change in economic policy,” stressed Adrian. More than 20 years after the Agenda 2010 passed by the then red-green federal government, new reform steps are needed. “Now we need a growth signal for the period up to 2030,” said the DIHK President.
In his view, the first encouraging signal could be the Growth Opportunities Act. This provides relief for companies of seven billion euros per year. A mediation process on the project is currently underway in the Federal Council. In addition, blockages in planning and approval processes and bureaucracy must be removed, said Adrian.
Criticism from the German Economic Institute
Companies also voiced criticism of current economic policy in a study by the employer-friendly German Economic Institute (IW). “The basic direction of economic policy represents a risk for almost two out of three companies across all sectors when making investment decisions in Germany,” the study states, according to the “Rheinische Post”.
“This argument therefore ranks high on the list of obstacles to investment,” the institute writes in the report. As concrete examples of dissatisfaction with economic policy, companies cite the high bureaucratic burden and many regulations, the high level of corporate taxes and backlogs in the expansion of digital and transport infrastructure.
According to the study, more than 90 percent of companies cited higher labor costs due to increased wages and non-wage labor costs as the main reason for their reluctance to invest, as the “Rheinische Post” further reports. The second most common reason given was the shortage of skilled workers and the general unavailability of workers.
