New survey: Germans are economically more dissatisfied than they have been since the financial crisis

The Germans are more and more worried about the economic situation.

In an Infratest survey for the ARD, 80 percent of the more than 1,300 respondents stated that they currently rated the economic situation as less good or bad, as reported by the WDR.

"That's twice as many as before the federal elections in September 2021." The rating is therefore worse than it has been since 2009, when Germany slipped into recession after the global financial crisis.

A recession is now looming because of the sharp rise in inflation as a result of the war in Ukraine.

53 percent state that the economic situation is likely to be even worse in a year's time.

32 percent assume a stable situation, twelve percent believe in an improvement.

Above all, Germans are worried about the sharp rise in prices and less about their jobs.

19 percent no longer consider their job secure.

On the other hand, 57 percent state that they are very or very worried that they will soon no longer be able to pay their bills.

76 percent are less or not at all satisfied with the government's relief measures so far.

Satisfaction with the traffic light decreases

This is also reflected in the assessment of the traffic light coalition in the federal government, which is at a new low.

Only 29 percent say they are satisfied or very satisfied - two percentage points less than in the previous survey.

The Greens still do best, the FDP the worst after the SPD.

Meanwhile, German companies reduced their production in August in view of material shortages and high energy prices.

Industry, construction and energy suppliers together produced 0.8 percent less than in the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.

It's the sharpest drop since March, the first full month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Economists polled earlier had expected a 0.5 percent drop after output stagnated in July.

Compared to August 2021, it was 2.1 percent higher.

"The continued great uncertainty about the progress of the war in Ukraine and the practically dried up gas supplies from Russia have dampened activities in the industry," commented the Federal Ministry of Economics on the data.

"In view of the declining order intake and a cooled-down mood in companies, the prospects for industrial activity in the coming months are gloomy."

According to the statisticians, production is still hampered by the severe shortage of primary products.

"Disrupted supply chains as a result of the war in Ukraine and ongoing upheavals caused by the Corona crisis continue to lead to problems in processing orders," it said.

Industry alone reduced its emissions by 0.1 percent in August.

The low water on the Rhine also played a role.

"In the manufacture of chemical products and in the coking plant and mineral oil processing, production in August was probably affected, among other things, by the restrictions on goods transport in inland waterways as a result of the severe low water," it said.

In the energy-intensive branches of industry - which are particularly suffering from the high energy prices - production shrank particularly sharply by 2.1 percent.

In construction, production fell by 2.1 percent, while power generation contracted by 6.1 percent.