Germany racked up one economic success after another for most of this century. But the loss of Russian natural gas due to the war in Ukraine has dealt a severe blow to its industry through higher energy costs.

For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports.

Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany.

No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year.

  • idiomaddict@feddit.deEnglish
    11·
    10 months ago

    Gas prices have gone up, there’s lots of inflation, and I still pay 300€ for a fair quality apartment downtown in a 70k population city. Yes, there’s a pinch, and it might be the world’s worst performing economy this year, but there’s a lot of economic “infrastructure” that supports people here, it certainly doesn’t feel like the US did in 1999 or 2008.

    I don’t think the article is necessarily false, but too narrow in scope. They only interviewed a banker and a CEO, both from former West Germany, which is a very different perspective from that of the common man.