German Self-Employed Less Pessimistic About Outlook: Ifo Survey
(RTTNews) - The business climate for self-employed individuals in Germany showed a considerable recovery at the end of the year as they were less pessimistic about the economic outlook, results of a survey conducted by the ifo Institute, in collaboration with Jimdo, showed on Monday.
The business confidence index for the self-employed rose sharply to -11.4 in December from -21.6 in November, the think tank said.
The strong recovery in December is due to significantly less pessimistic expectations among self-employed people, Ifo said.
Despite this, many self-employed people still lack optimism. Positive and negative responses are roughly balanced in the current business environment.
"There is light at the end of the economic tunnel," said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at ifo. "Concerns for survival, while still at a high level, have decreased somewhat."
Among sectors, pessimism still remains at its highest for the self-employed in retail. Considering service providers, satisfaction with their current business is steadily increasing.
Currently, 16.7 percent of the self-employed think their economic survival is at risk. For the economy as a whole, however, the figure was significantly lower at 6.3 percent.
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