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Think tank revises upwards Germany's 2017 economic growth forecast

Xinhua, December 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

German research institute Ifo on Friday revised upwards its economic growth forecast for Germany in 2017 to 1.5 percent from an earlier prediction of 1.4 percent.

"All of the signs indicate that the fourth quarter of 2016 will be stronger than previously anticipated, and that this dynamic will continue into the New Year," Ifo president Clemens Fuest said here on Friday.

"The change in pace from 2016 to 2017 is merely due to a lower number of working days," Fuest added.

The Munich-based institute also revised upwards its forecast for Germany's economic growth rate in 2018 from 1.6 percent to 1.7 percent.

According to the think tank, the number of employees in Germany will increase from 43.5 million this year to 43.8 million in 2017 and 44.2 million in 2018, while the number of unemployed will remain stable at 2.7 million until 2018.

In addition, Ifo expects Germany's inflation rate to rise from 0.5 percent this year to 1.5 percent in 2017 and 1.7 percent in 2018.

Due to expenditure on refugees, the surplus of German federal government will drop from 21.5 billion euros (22.47 billion dollars) this year to 11.6 billion euros in 2017 and 9.2 billion euros in 2018. Endit