Top economic research institutions predict that Germany's economy will contract in 2024

Sources told Xinhua on Tuesday that the German Ministry of Economy will release an official report on Thursday, which may indicate that the German economy will shrink in 2024. The department warned that Germany's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could fall by 0.1% this year. In contrast, they had predicted a slight growth of 0.1% in the spring of this year. This biannual study includes contributions from top think tanks such as Munich's IFO and the German Institute for Economic Research DIW. Sources said researchers still expect Germany's economic output to be positive in 2025, but in their autumn report, GDP growth forecast for 2025 has been revised down from 1.4% in spring to just 0.8%. The coalition government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning a series of measures to stimulate economic activity, but business groups complain these are not enough and call for fundamental reforms instead. Their biggest complaints include high energy prices, excessive bureaucracy and shortage of skilled workers.