Most German economists doubt Brexit negotiation timetable: survey

Most German economists have been skeptical about the timetable of the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, a German survey released here on Thursday showed.

Seventy percent of 125 surveyed German economics professors believed that the British government's two-year timetable for negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) is "unrealistic," according to the results of a survey conducted by German research institute Ifo and German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Another 21 percent of surveyed economists believed that a deal can be mapped out within the next two years, while the remaining nine percent were unsure, the survey showed.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of surveyed participants believed that Brexit will have a negative impact on both the EU and Britain.

"The EU and Britain should try to maintain free trade as much as possible," said Niklas Potrafke, director of the Ifo center for public finance and political economy.

However, the survey showed that most economists believed that Britain is likely to sign a free trade agreement with the United States. Endit