The mood in the executive floors of companies is bad, which according to a survey is mainly due to the collapsed expectations of future business. The current situation is mostly assessed positively.
Munich (dpa / lby) - The Bavarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce sees the business expectations of the Bavarian economy "in free fall". According to a current company survey, the BIHK economic index fell to 88 points, the worst value since the beginning of the Corona crisis in spring 2020. The miserable mood is mainly due to the collapse in business expectations. "With minus 37 points they mark an absolute all-time low," said BIHK Managing Director Manfred Gößl on Wednesday in Munich.
"So it's not surprising that companies are reducing their investments and the number of their employees," said Gössl. Overall, they planned a slight downsizing.
The majority of companies still rate the current business situation positively, although the trend has been downward for a year now. One of the few bright spots is the still solid order backlog in industry and construction. Tourism, trade and the service industry also reported largely stable sales at the moment. But the prospects are bleak.
Across all sectors, companies lack cost and planning security in view of the energy crisis, inflation, fragile supply chains, labor shortages and the economic slowdown in the EU and China. There are growing concerns of a downward spiral as companies continue to cut investments and consumers spend less and less. "The current risk situation is unprecedented for companies," said Gößl. 3,400 companies in Bavaria took part in the BIHK business survey from the end of September to October 10th.
BIHK President Klaus Josef Lutz called on politicians to "quickly develop realistic strategies for Germany's energy security". You also need to reduce bureaucracy. "More flexibility is the order of the day" - in the expansion of renewable energies as well as in the transport infrastructure and in residential construction. Additional burdens for the economy should be avoided, for example with the Energy Efficiency Act. The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act must be suspended. "New free trade agreements with the USA and Australia would be a strong signal of hope for the economy," said Lutz: open markets would make it easier for companies to diversify their sources of supply.
