BERLIN, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Industrial production in Germany in September declined by 1.4 percent compared to the previous month, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Tuesday. It was the fourth month in a row that production fell.
"The development observed for most individual economic sectors was negative," Destatis said. The country's important automotive industry even saw a 5 percent decline in production.
Already in August, car maker BMW expressed concern about Germany as a business location in view of the country's weak economic situation. "The deindustrialization in Germany is creeping up," BMW Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oliver Zipse warned.
Decreases in production were also recorded for the manufacture of electrical equipment and in the pharmaceutical industry, according to Destatis. In contrast, machinery and equipment manufacturers had a positive impact with production growth of 4.1 percent.
"The industrial economy in Germany remains weak," Nils Jannsen, head of business cycle Germany at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), told Xinhua on Tuesday. "In the third quarter, weak industrial production contributed significantly to the decline in gross domestic product (GDP)."
Europe's largest economy is on the brink of a recession. After stagnation earlier this year, Germany's GDP in the third quarter of 2023 declined by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to Destatis.
In line with leading economic institutes, the German government lowered its annual forecast in mid-October, and it now expects a 0.4 percent recession in 2023. Next year, however, the economy is predicted to recover with growth of 1.3 percent.
