Experts Do Not Trust Germany to Grow

Economic experts expect very low economic growth for Germany of 0.4% in 2025, which makes it the poorest performer among all industrialized countries. That is the result of the Economic Experts Survey, a quarterly survey conducted by the ifo Institute and the Swiss Economic Policy Institute. “Germany urgently needs a different economic policy that can boost growth again,” says ifo researcher Niklas Potrafke. “Germany has massively lost its attractiveness in the international location competition. The new government should address this with market-oriented reforms.“

Lower growth rates in Europe and North America 

Economic experts from around the world are forecasting a growth rate of 2.9% for 2025, which is a slight increase over the previous year. They had predicted 2.6% for 2024. Respondents in Africa (3.9%) and Asia (3.8%) are particularly optimistic. Lower growth rates are expected in Europe (2.1%) and North America (2.4%).

Below average expectations

Global growth of 3.2% is estimated for 2026 and 3.1% for 2028. Growth expectations for Germany are also somewhat better than for 2025 at 1% for 2026 and 1.3% for 2028 but remain well below the average expectations for other industrialized countries.

A total of 1,398 economic experts from 125 countries participated in the survey from December 4 to 18, 2024. 

Source: https://www.ifo.de/en/press-release/2025-02-10/experts-do-not-trust-germany-to-grow