Germany’s economic morale further improved in December, reaching its highest level since March, according to data released on Tuesday.
The indicator by the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) for Germany’s economic sentiment rose to 12.8 in December, up 3 percentage points from month earlier. An index of current conditions in Germany slightly increased by 2.7 points to minus 77.1 points.
ZEW head Achim Wambach pointed out the slight improvement in the two readings despite the current budget crisis, saying: “This is due to the fact that the share of respondents expecting interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank in the medium term has doubled.”—AA