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Russian Velaro express train - built by Siemens
Photo: Stefan Sauer/ picture alliance/ dpa
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz should continue to put pressure on Russia and tighten sanctions against the country.
However, the punitive measures against Moscow may also have their limits, according to the German Business Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, as the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" report.
"We stand by the sanctions 100 percent, but they shouldn't lead to the destruction of the Russian economy," the two newspapers quoted the managing director of the Foreign Trade Association, Michael Harms.
While Europe is debating a comprehensive embargo on gas and oil from Russia, which the federal government and experts have so far viewed critically, the sanctions must also be weighed up: “They don’t have to be as tough as possible, but as targeted as possible to prevent this To change the behavior of the political leadership,” he told the two Stuttgart newspapers.
While numerous companies have already left the country, there is increasing pressure on companies that still do business in Russia.
Export expectations in Germany are collapsing
But the sanctions are also having a negative impact on the economy in this country.
Sentiment among German exporters plummeted after the outbreak of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The barometer for export expectations fell to minus 2.3 points in March, after having been plus 17.0 points in February, as the Munich-based Ifo Institute announced in its monthly company survey.
So far, there has only been a sharper decline at the beginning of the corona crisis in April 2020 with minus 31.2 points.
"In particular, companies with economic ties to Russia are looking much more pessimistically at the coming months," said Ifo President Clemens Fuest.
"Export growth will slow down noticeably."
The Ifo researchers recently lowered their forecast for economic growth this year.
They only expect an increase of between 2.2 and 3.1 percent, after having previously expected an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.7 percent.
"The Russian attack is dampening the economy through significantly increased raw material prices, sanctions, increasing supply bottlenecks for raw materials and intermediate products and increased economic uncertainty," the statement said.
Inflation is likely to rise faster than expected.
The Ifo Institute expects 5.1 to 6.1 percent for 2022 instead of the 3.3 percent expected in December.
In the event of an energy embargo: economist Fratzscher warns of an inflation rate of ten percent
more on the subject
Market reactions to the war: how to do without again?
If the supply of Russian oil and gas were to be stopped, the situation could deteriorate further: Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), then believes that "inflation rates of up to ten percent are likely", as the "Cologne Stadt-Anzeiger« and the editorial network Germany said.
And: "Politicians have to give the people a clean slate and say: If there is an embargo and there are no more oil and gas supplies, then not three Qatars and the United Arab Emirates will help us either."
Waiver on the part of consumers is the only sensible way to deal with the situation in the next one to two years.
“So drive less.
Car-free Sunday.
Speed limit on the highway.
We have to make significant savings when it comes to heating.«
Apr/dpa/Reuters
