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The Week in Germany: Business and Technology

October 6, 2006

A Decline in Corporate Bankruptcies and a Big Jump in Indo-German Trade

Trade between Germany and India soared to €3.3. billion ($4.1 billion) in the first seven months of 2006, an increase of 40 percent over a year ago, the Federal Statistics Office announced on Wednesday.

German imports from India climbed 30.5 percent to 2.4 billion euros in the period under review, the statistics office added according to German news agency dpa.

India has reported growth rates ranging from 7.5 to 8.5 percent over the past three years. Its gross domestic product (GDP) has almost doubled since 1994, the statistics office said.

A passage to India: books about India and by Indian authors abound at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair - fitting in light of the strong trade links between India and Germany.

Robust German businesses beat the summertime blues

At the same time, the Federal Statistics Office announced on Thursday that the number of German businesses filing for bankruptcy declined by a quarter in July, boosting optimism that Europe's biggest economy is strengthening.

A total of 2,327 firms went bankrupt in July - a decline of 25.4 percent from the same month last year, the Statistics Office said. Over the first seven months of this year, the number of corporate bankruptcies fell by 16.5 percent to 18,592.

The latest figures continue a trend that started in early 2005, according to the Associated Press. Over the course of last year, 6 percent fewer businesses went bankrupt than in 2004.

Leaving slow growth behind and revving up Europe's economic motor

Germany is emerging from years of sluggish growth that has driven up unemployment, drained the government's coffers and put a drag on economies across the continent, the AP stated. A long-awaited increase in consumer spending and a boom in exports are driving this growth.

Economy Minister Michael Glos has said Germany's economy could grow by as much as 2.5 percent this year, well above the official government growth forecast of 1.6 percent.

According to a recent survey by the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, German exported goods will account for 10 percent of world trade in the coming year. German exports are moreover predicted to grow more sharply than overall global trade in 2007, when Germany will remain the leading export nation.

German trade with the new EU member states, the countries of the former Soviet Union, and the Asia-Pacific region is evolving at a particularly dynamic pace.

Links:

Federal Statistics Office

More about German exports

Germany meets Maastricht criteria

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