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Cutting red tape key to restoring confidence of German companies, survey shows
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 13, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
A survey shows that cutting bureaucracy is crucial for boosting German business confidence, with 97% of companies agreeing. Economic policies and export prospects also play significant roles.
By Maria Martinez
BERLIN (Reuters) -Cutting bureaucracy would give German companies more confidence in economically uncertain times, according to a survey from the German Economic Institute IW seen by Reuters on Friday.
Of the more than 2,000 companies surveyed, 97% said reducing bureaucracy would increase their confidence, while 75% said it would have a "strong influence" and 22% a "moderate influence" on their confidence.
Germany is the only G7 nation that has recorded no economic growth for two consecutive years and business morale has therefore been depressed, according to indicators such as the Ifo business climate index.
For two-thirds of companies, a moderate increase of labour costs would have a strong positive effect on their outlook, with an further 31% seeing a moderate effect.
Almost all companies stated that economic policy had a strong or moderate influence on their confidence, with 89% of the companies favouring efforts for competitive energy prices and 92% favouring investment-oriented tax policies.
Nearly half of companies in the survey cite improved export prospects to Asia and the United States as a potential confidence boost. Better export prospects within Europe were considered even more important.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez and Rene Wagner, Editing by Friederike Heine)
According to the survey, 97% of the more than 2,000 companies surveyed stated that reducing bureaucracy would increase their confidence.
Germany is the only G7 nation that has recorded no economic growth for two consecutive years, leading to depressed business morale.
Almost all companies in the survey indicated that economic policy had a strong or moderate influence on their confidence, with 89% favoring efforts for competitive energy prices.
For two-thirds of companies, a moderate increase in labour costs would have a strong positive effect on their outlook, while 31% see it having a moderate effect.
Nearly half of the companies cited improved export prospects to Asia and the United States as a potential confidence boost, with better prospects within Europe being even more significant.
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