German industry: Order books will be filled in July by special state funds

Berlin. The order books of German industry are filling up thanks to billions from the government from the special funds: New business grew in July for the third month in a row. Due to many large orders from domestically, orders rose by 2.5 percent compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.

Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had only expected an increase of 0.3 percent. Compared to the same month last year, orders increased by 13.1 percent.

“Incoming orders are rising to the highest level since the end of last year, which is good news,” said the economic expert at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Jupp Zenzen. “But unfortunately no improvement in the competitiveness of German industry and therefore no self-sustaining upswing can be seen from this.”

The July balance sheet has a flaw: the positive development is almost exclusively attributable to the area of ​​other vehicle construction, which includes aircraft, ships, trains and military vehicles. Due to an exceptionally high volume of large orders, incoming orders in this area more than doubled compared to the previous month (+126.4 percent).