Germany racked up one economic success after another for most of this century. But the loss of Russian natural gas due to the war in Ukraine has dealt a severe blow to its industry through higher energy costs.

For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports.

Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany.

No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year.

  • GenEcon@lemm.eeEnglish
    31·
    1 year ago

    Its actually the result from the Agenda 2020. Economic policies take sometimes years to get results. Merkel didn’t hurt the economy in the short term though, but you you get the results now: crumbled infrastructure and dependence on Russia and China.