Dresden (dpa / lnw) - According to an estimate by the Munich Ifo Institute, the economy in North Rhine-Westphalia shrank by 2.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. Ifo researcher Robert Lehmann sees the main reason for this being a sharp drop in production in energy-intensive economic sectors such as the steel industry as a result of high energy costs. The nationwide average is 0.3 percent growth compared to the previous quarter, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office last week.
In their statement published on Wednesday, the Ifo researchers found that the economy in the individual federal states had developed very differently. For example, they assume growth of 2.4 percent for the third quarter in Schleswig-Holstein. Accordingly, there was also clearly above-average growth in Rhineland-Palatinate with 1.8 percent, Hamburg with 1.6, Bremen with 1.3, Berlin with 1.2 and Hesse with 1.1 percent. In contrast, the economy developed well below average - in addition to NRW - in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with minus 1.4 percent as well as Saxony-Anhalt (minus 0.9 percent) and Bavaria (minus 0.8 percent).
The estimate is based on a new Ifo method based on data from the Federal Statistical Office for Germany as a whole. "For the first time, we are calculating quarterly figures for the states, shortly after the figure for the federal government," said Lehmann. "Until now, there have only been figures for whole calendar years, and with some delay."
