Hope for the export-oriented German economy: There was an increase in goods exports in April.
German companies exported more in April. Exports rose by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office. Goods worth 136.5 billion euros were exported. That was 1.9 percent more than a year earlier. Imports rose by 2.0 percent compared to the previous month. However, within a year there was a decline of 0.6 percent, with a volume of 114.5 billion euros.
According to the Ifo Institute, the mood in the German export industry brightened in May. However, the export economy as a whole is not yet developing great momentum, said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of the Ifo surveys. In the first four months, statisticians recorded a slight decline of 0.3 percent in exports compared to the same period last year, at 539.2 billion euros.
According to the latest forecast by the “economic experts,” world trade and global industrial production are likely to increase over the course of the current year, which will benefit German exports. However, export-oriented companies are faced with fierce competition, rising labor costs and continued high energy prices, the federal government’s advisory body recently announced.
Last year, the German export industry felt the effects of the weakness of world trade and the consequences of geopolitical crises.
Source: Stern
