The German economy has staged a notable recovery in April, propelled by a robust uptick in the services sector. Data compiled by S&P Global indicates that the composite index for private sector production, encompassing both industry and services, surged to 50.5 from 47.7 points in the previous month, surpassing economists' projections.
While the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing witnessed a marginal increase to 42.2 from 41.9 points, it was the services sector that stole the spotlight, with the index soaring to 53.3 from 50.1 points, exceeding expectations.
To what degree are regular Germans living off of credit cards or other forms of borrowing?
Germans are traditionally rather economical. It is rare to take out a loan for a vacation etc. In addition, credit cards were not very common until recently. You pay in cash or with a so called EC card (Girocard) which is linked directly to your checking account.
Interesting. It's probably not a good path to go down.
Yeah, but Germans are fiercely opposed to the abolition of cash. You can pay cash almost everywhere.
Hold strong, Germany.
I'm a little surprised that Germans aren't drawn to the seeming efficiency of electronic money.
It has something to do with the "Deutsche Mark (DEM)" which was the Fiat currency West-Germany had before the EURO was introduced in 1999. The D-Mark was what I would call "sound Fiat". Very stable, strong. Many cry after the DEM. In addition, the wall came down in 1989 and all East Germans were able to exchange their worthless communist money at a ratio of 2:1 "only cash is king" so to say.
no comparison to the United States. i just looked, about 75 billion euros of the 1.2 trillion euros of consumer debt is on credit cards in Germany.
What's the rest? Are mortgages counted as consumer debt?
Yes. Mortgages are part of it
Its good that it is rising. Germany will need that when it bails everyone else out.
Lol
You know it is true.
Jajaja
I suppose it's the effect of ECB's cautious 2024 stance.
Loose credit. The industry is tanking
Let's hope Germany continues to recover, although it still has a lot of work to do to get back to where it was before all this mess.