The pandemic is slowly losing its horror and the mood is clearly brightening. Many companies look to the future with confidence.
In view of the significantly lower corona incidence numbers and increasing vaccination rates, optimism is growing in the German economy.
“For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, most companies are looking confidently to the current year”, summarized the Institute of the German Economy (IW) in Cologne the result of its latest economic survey. “The pandemic is currently losing its horror,” said IW economic chief Michael Grömling.
A good half (51 percent) of the companies surveyed in 2000 expect higher production in the current year than in the crisis year 2020. Only 15 percent expect weaker business. Around 43 percent of companies want to hire more employees than last year, and around 42 percent want to invest more. Compared to the survey in spring, the mood has brightened significantly.
However, there are still major differences between the industries. The optimism is greatest in the industry: Here 59 percent of the companies are optimistic about the future, although delivery problems with important preliminary products like chips are currently slowing down production. In the service sector, around every second company expects better business. In both sectors, only 13 percent of companies expect production to be lower than in 2020.
Despite the widespread optimism, it will take years before the slump caused by the corona pandemic is evened out, said IW economic expert Grömling. The most important thing now is that a new lockdown is avoided.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
