German business confidence shows progress in May

05-25-2009 11:12

The start of this week turned out sunny due to the results of a survey which proved that German business sentiment progressed in May. In March the German business sentiment reached a record low while it improved for the second straight month in May. The analysis was executed by Ifo Institute for Economic Research and proved that the German business sentiment rose from 83.7 in April to 84.2 in May, while it was estimated at 85. The outlook continues to improve and indicates that the economic output will become more stable at a low level, according to Ifo.

Commerzbank: anemic upward movement ahead

Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank, stated that in the initial quarter the German economy possibly decreased slightly. If orders increase significantly in the next months, the recession could end in the third quarter of this year. Commerzbank believes that a gradual increase is more likely than a strong upward movement if the recession ends, which will not prevent unemployment to rise.

Spanish producer prices declined

The value of the orders, total price-modified, collected by construction, civil and underground engineering companies declined on a yearly basis in March, while it dropped by 17.5% in February. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) announced that Spanish producer prices fell by 3.4% annually, following a 2.5% drop in the previous month. In the beginning of this year, producer prices showed a declining tendency which meant the largest decrease so far.

Slovenian economic sentiment indicator rose

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia reported that the economic sentiment gauge went up by 3% in May versus April, seasonally corrected. Furthermore, it announced that April showed a year-over-year decrease by 3% in tourist arrivals.

John Lipsky: recession may be easing

Austria’s data proved that the manufacturing production declined on a yearly basis by 14.3%, a labor day corrected, in March, versus 14.2% in February. The current rise of oil prices implicates that the recession is weakening, according to John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also declared that the worldwide demand for oil is expected to improve slowly.

Gross domestic product OECD area dropped 2.1%

A survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) proved that in the initial quarter the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region declined by 2.1% consecutively; the biggest drop since 1960. The economy decreased 2% in the last quarter of 2008.