German Economic Confidence Weakens To 40-month Low

(RTTNews) - Germany's economic confidence logged a further sharp decline in April to the lowest level in more than three years amid the consequences of the Middle East war, the financial market survey conducted by the think tank ZEW showed Tuesday.

The investor sentiment index worsened to -17.2 from -0.5 in March. The score hit the lowest since December 2022 and remained well below the expected score of -5.0.

Economic expectations turned more negative in April as the impact of the Iran war on the German economy extended beyond inflationary pressures. The outlook for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as for steel and metal production deteriorated strongly.

"Businesses are concerned about long-term shortages of energy supply, and this discourages investment and weakens the effect of government stimuli," ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach said.

The assessment regarding the current satiation also weakened, with the corresponding index falling to -73.7 in April from -62.9 in the prior month.

The survey revealed that the expectations index for the Eurozone fell to -20.4 in April from -8.5 in March. The current situation also deteriorated by 13.1 points and stood at -43.0.