Scholz meets industry leaders to discuss economic crisis

DW (English)

Germany's economy is struggling, with stalled growth and structural problems raising serious concerns. As Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets with industry leaders, the focus is on finding solutions to revive the nation's economic prospects.

Transcript

00:00Why is Germany's economy in such a bad shape, and what will it take to get things going again?

00:07Chancellor Olaf Scholz will face tough questions like these at Tuesday's Industry Summit in the Chancellery,

00:15where he'll meet business leaders, employers and union representatives.

00:20The summit aims to address mounting concerns over the country's economic stagnation

00:25and to look for solutions to obvious structural problems.

00:30We systematically did not invest enough in our infrastructure,

00:34which can be seen with delayed trains and collapsing bridges,

00:37the lack of digitalization across administrations.

00:41We have not done enough to mobilize the potential of skilled workers,

00:45both on the domestic job market and in terms of the employment of women.

00:49According to IMF predictions for this year, and combined with the German economy ministry's forecast,

00:55here is how Germany is expected to stack up against the US, China, Japan and India projections.

01:01Yet again, it's expected to be the only economy to contract.

01:05Germany is very much exposed to rising energy prices,

01:09so the energy intensive industry like the chemical industry is strong in Germany.

01:13Then we have issues in the car industry, the transition towards electric mobility,

01:18the growing importance of IT, the difficulties in the Chinese markets.

01:24All of that is making life difficult for the car industry.

01:30Just a day before the Chancellor's Industry Summit,

01:33the country's giant carmaker Volkswagen's plans to substantially shrink its operations in Germany were made public.

01:41Europe's biggest car producer is planning to shut at least three factories in Germany,

01:46lay off tens of thousands of staff and permanently shrink its remaining plants in Germany.

01:53The cracks in Europe's biggest economy are deepening,

01:56and businesses want something to be done by the government soon.

Category

Transcript

Recommended