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Goods handling in the port of Hamburg: “Escalating geopolitical and geoeconomic conflicts”
Photo: Marcus Brandt/dpa
According to economic researchers, the war in Ukraine has cost Germany more than 200 billion euros so far. "The economic costs for Germany after two years of war in Ukraine are likely to be significantly higher than 200 billion euros," said the President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, to the "Rheinische Post".
"Above all, the high energy costs have reduced growth in Germany by 2.5 percentage points or 100 billion euros in 2022 and by a similar amount in 2023 to date," said the DIW boss. However, these are only the “direct financial costs”. Further costs would arise from the “escalating geopolitical and geoeconomic conflicts, especially with China,” due to the war. These would hit export companies particularly hard, explained Fratzscher.
The “RP” also quoted from a current study by the German Economic Institute, according to which the Ukraine war has cost Germany around 240 billion euros so far. "While the defaults in 2022 are around one hundred billion euros, they rose again to a good 140 billion in 2023," the study says. However, the consequences of the corona pandemic will continue to have an impact in 2022 and 2023, meaning that an exact definition of the effects of the Ukraine war cannot be calculated, explained IW researcher Michael Grömling.
According to DIW boss Fratzscher, the costs of the Ukraine war hit people with low incomes particularly hard because inflation would have an impact "two to three times greater" for them than for people with high incomes.
The Russian attack on Ukraine marks the second anniversary on Saturday.
mic/AFP