Under increasing pressure from the global recession, as many as 78 percent of German small and medium-sized companies are willing to support the introduction of protectionist measures, according to the results of the latest study.
For comparison, a year ago this percentage was 43 percent, announced the global auditing firm Ernst & Young, which conducted the study. Furthermore, 92 percent of the surveyed companies believe that greater public investment would significantly strengthen them, compared to last year’s 69 percent. Approximately half of the 3,000 companies covered by the study stated that the global financial crisis has directly impacted their business, primarily through a decline in demand. The study also found that one in seven small and medium-sized companies is facing increasing difficulties in obtaining bank loans.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, entered recession in the third quarter of 2008, and the latest official data shows that unemployment in the country was 8.3 percent in January, after reaching 7.4 percent in December. To avoid the global economic crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government agreed on a €50 billion stimulus package for the economy, the largest in recent German history. The agreed measures include a massive increase in infrastructure spending as well as significant tax relief. This is the second such package of measures in just a few months, and Merkel plans to push it through both houses of the German parliament by the end of the month. (H)
