Stress reached
Many medium -sized companies expect rising costs
In 2025, small and medium -sized companies also expect price increases in all important cost blocks. There is good news on wages, as a KfW survey shows.
Wages, materials, energy – many medium -sized companies in Germany expect rising costs in the current year. And the proportion of small and medium -sized companies that are financially reaching their limits. These are the results of a joint analysis by the KfW Förderbank and the Deutsche Bundesbank based on a survey of 3,165 companies in January of this year.
58 percent of the respondents stated that the costs for their company were wearable. However, 69 percent replied accordingly in the previous survey in April 2024. 19 percent currently felt financially overwhelmed, in the previous year 14 percent said.
“Significantly more companies than a year ago reached the limit of resilience at their costs,” Elisabeth Grewenig, SME expert at KfW Research. “Especially in the service sector, in which there are many small companies, cost increases can often not be easily passed on to customers via higher prices.”
Cost increases less than in the previous year
The good news from the perspective of the companies: According to expectations, the cost increases should be weaker this year than in 2024. For example, a growing majority of 47 percent of medium -sized companies with constant costs, 9 percent, even assume a decline.
However, 37 percent of small and medium -sized companies unchanged up to 10 percent higher wage costs in the current year, 7 percent even expect more than 10 percent. With around 35 percent of the total costs, wages and salaries are the largest cost factor for small and medium -sized companies.
dpa
Source: Stern
