The economic recovery was actually imagined differently in this country.
Freed from the lockdown shackles, the signs in early summer were still pointing to a quick return to the boom.
That has to be postponed once more: If you believe the figures from Halle's economic researchers, there is not much left of the hoped-for growth rate of 3 to 4 percent and more.
It should be a modest 2.2 percent this year.
A return to normal capacity utilization will therefore take until the end of 2022. Europe's largest economy cannot really be satisfied with that.
But most of the problems lie abroad. Domestic consumption does not really want to find its way back to the level that was once considered normal before the pandemic. But above all, industry and export are slowing down. Last year, and after the financial crisis, they were still the driving force behind the recovery, the global delivery problems are giving them a hard time. Primary products remain scarce and expensive, and an end to the material shortage is not in sight as long as China closes off entire ports due to corona infections or other market participants fight for scarce raw materials such as semiconductors. That dampens the economic mood. But it cannot be changed easily.
Candidates for future ministerial posts should understand the poor growth prospects as a wake-up call. Because when the economy grows weaker, there are simply fewer taxes and less to distribute; For many, “future programs” on credit have wrongly lost their horror. Cost discipline is therefore required - not least with the long-running climate protection. That doesn't have to weaken him at all. On the contrary: It is not the government's billions of cornucopia that decide the quality of the “green” renovation, but the mobilization of private investments and technical ingenuity. The future federal government already has enough to do with improving the climate policy framework - faster planning and approval, lower taxes and charges on electricity.