- Stefan Kipar, an economist at Bayerische Landesbank
German business confidence unexpectedly weakened in December amid some concerns over the domestic economy. The Ifo economic institute's business climate index, slid to 108.7 from 109.0 in November. The current assessment sub-survey, measuring current conditions in the German economy, came in at 112.8 points, slightly down from the previous month's figure of 113.4. At the same time, the Ifo expectations index, indicating projections for the next six months, remained unchanged at 104.78. Ifo revised down its expectations for 2015 growth in Germany to 1.7%. However, the think-tank predicted a faster pace of expansion of 1.9% for next year, partly buoyed by higher state spending on refugees. Meanwhile, the Bundesbank kept its 2016 growth outlook unchanged at 1.8% this month, saying that the Euro zone's number one economy is benefiting from "lively" domestic spending even as the export-oriented manufacturing sector struggles with uncertainty in emerging markets.
A separate survey by the ZEW economic institute showed investor confidence in Germany climbed to a four-month high in December. ZEW's investor confidence index rose to 16.1 points, up from 10.4.
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