German Investor Confidence Slumps
German investor confidence fell to the lowest level since 2012 as the crisis in Ukraine and a sluggish euro-area recovery damp the outlook for Europe’s largest economy.
The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, dropped to 8.6 in August from 27.1 in July.
A worsening standoff between Russia and the European Union is clouding the outlook for a German economy that probably contracted for the first time since 2012 in the second quarter.
Germany’s economy probably shrank 0.1% last quarter, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
“The decline in economic sentiment is likely connected to the ongoing geopolitical tensions that have affected the German economy,” ZEW said in a statement.
Much of eastern Europe will probably report slower economic growth for the second quarter. Poland’s economy expanded 0.5% from the first quarter, down from 1.1% in the previous period, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Source: Bloomberg
