BERLIN, May 28 (Xinhua) -- German companies are increasingly pessimistic about their future, according to the economic survey by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) published on Tuesday.
Economic expectations of Germany's export business even fell to a ten-year low, the survey indicated.
"The economy is under pressure," Eric Schweitzer, president of DIHK, summarized the results of the survey, for which around 25,000 German companies were interviewed.
The "significantly slower" pace of the global economy would be felt particularly by German companies in the manufacturing sector, added Schweitzer, who described the slower pace in the manufacturing sector and the lower export expectations as an "alarm signal".
The DIHK also lowered its growth forecast for Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) to 0.6 percent from 0.9 percent projected in February, closer to the government forecast of 0.5 percent. In 2018, German economy grew by 1.5 percent.
Despite the worsening economic expectations, German companies did not expect job cuts in the near future.
The DIHK is predicting that an additional 400,000 employees will work in the German industry in 2019. In 2018 and 2017, the number of jobs in the German industry grew more quickly at 527,000 and 627,000 respectively.
According to Schweitzer, the domestic retail as well as the construction sector were currently able to "bolster" the economy.
However, "further slowdown in investment and employment plans, particularly in the manufacturing sector, indicates that the domestic economy will not be able to free itself from the difficult external economic environment in the long term," the DIHK president warned.
Last week, the Ifo Institute for Economic research announced that the German economy was lacking "momentum". The mood among German corporate leaders continued to weaken as the Ifo Institute's business climate index fell from 99.2 to 97.9 points, its lowest level since the end of 2014.
In order to tackle the large "economic and structural" challenges which Germany would be facing, Schweitzer called for governmental measures.
Schweitzer emphasized that traffic and IT infrastructure needed to be expanded more quickly, since "economy 4.0 needs digitization".
In addition, the German tax law would have to be "de-bureaucratized" and a new "modern tax law" must be introduced, since companies would be facing greater tax burdens than their competitors in other industrialized countries.
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