German business confidence up this month

A monthly business climate survey conducted by the economic research institute, Ifo, has revealed that business confidence within German companies has risen this month, with the index increasing to103.5 points from 102.4 last month.

The president of the institute revealed that the index shows that German companies have assessed their post credit crunch positions more positively, despite the US economic slump and the strength of the euro affecting their exports, and the current spiralling energy costs.

On the whole, of the 7000 companies polled most planned ‘modest’ increases in their labour force.

Most of the companies had marked improvements in efficiency which may be one of the primary causes for the current stake of contentment in business leaders, as the private-sector labour costs rose 1 percent last year, the smallest increase within the European Union.

The emerging economies are also boosting demand for products, as seen by Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, whose own sales have been boosted by 28 percent in the first four months of trading in 2008, as China outstripped its own domestic market as the car manufacturers biggest market.

The German gross domestic product rose 1.5 percent, the economy is still progressing and compares favourably to other European countries such as Spain and Italy, who are stuck at 0.3 percent growth.

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