Many German companies have “frozen” their investment and hiring plans, on the expectation of an “economically weak” year in 2013, according to the results of a survey presented by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research.
The survey was answered by approximately 2,300 of the largest companies in Germany. It revealed that 28% of respondents are expecting their business to decrease during the coming year, while only 24% are planning to increase production.
Despite these indicators, the Cologne institute does not believe that Germany will fall into recession, estimating that industrial production may increase by 0.75%, as long as the crisis in the eurozone does not worsen.
