By Maria Martinez
BERLIN, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Germany’s leading economic institutes raised their forecasts for growth in Europe’s largest economy for this year and next on Thursday, confirming a Reuters report from Tuesday.
The German economy is forecast to grow 1.3% in 2026, compared with an earlier forecast of 0.6%. For 2027, the institutes forecast growth of 1.1%, up from an earlier projection of 0.9%.
“The economy has developed more robustly than expected. However, the recovery rests on a narrow foundation, as high energy prices and structural problems continue to weigh on economic activity,” said Oliver Holtemoeller, from the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
The institutes expect growth of only 0.4% in 2028.
Germany’s sluggish economy has been a big issue in the country’s recent regional elections that have resulted in big gains for the far right and far left.
The recovery temporarily slowed in the third quarter, the institutes said. While sentiment indicators continue to improve, the latest hard economic data have come in weaker.
The forecasts are a joint effort by five prominent economic institutes – RWI in Essen, the Ifo institute in Munich, IfW in Kiel, IWH in Halle and DIW in Berlin.
(Reporting by Maria MartinezEditing by Ludwig Burger)
