The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) gives an all-clear signal: economic prospects in February improved which signals that the current crisis does not trigger a downward spiral of the German economy. This is reflected by the increase of the ZEW`s economic outlook index by 2.1 points in February. Thus, this index currently stands at -39.5 points following -41.6 points in the previous month. However, the index is still far below its historic mean benchmark of 30.7 points.
Experts believe that the economic situation is going to improve slightly from the middle of this year. This development is said to be supported by more expansive monetary policies in most important industrialized countries. Furthermore, those experts interviewed estimate that exports will slightly increase on a six-month basis.
Due to the critical situation on financial markets the assessment of the current economic situation has, however, clearly deteriorated in February. The respective index fell by 22.9 points to 33.7 points.
The economic prospects for the Eurozone, on the other hand, are becoming stabilized. The Euro-indicator increased only marginally by 0.3 points and currently stands at -41.4 points. The index for the current economic situation in the Eurozne fell by 26.0 points in February and now stands at 21.8 points.
314 analysts and institutional investors took part in this survey by the ZEW. 