BERLIN, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Almost all German companies with international operations had suffered because of COVID-19, according to an economic survey by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) published on Wednesday.
Eighty-three percent of companies surveyed complained about a slump in sales, 15 percent even reported sales at least halved compared with last year, according to DIHK. Only eight percent were unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic.
"The willingness to invest has once again plummeted significantly," said DIHK's head of foreign trade Volker Treier. More than one in two German companies with international business intended to invest less in their international locations, compared with only 35 percent in a survey in April.
German companies also had growing concerns about demand. In July, 59 percent reported declining interest in products and services. In contrast, challenges such as supply bottlenecks, own production losses or illness were less pronounced than in the last survey.
While almost all surveyed companies expected a recovery of the global economy by 2021 at the earliest, while 52 percent regarded Germany's increasing debt burden as the most important challenge. Enditem
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