BERLIN—Three of Germany’s leading economic institutes lowered their forecast for Europe’s largest economy next year, predicting high energy prices caused by the Ukraine war would take their toll.
The IfW institute in Kiel and Halle’s IWH predicted on Thursday that the economy would contract in 2023, a U-turn from June forecasts that predicted growth of 3.3 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.
The IfW said the economy would shrink by 0.7 percent while the IWH saw a more drastic contraction of 1.4 percent. The RWI institute lowered its 2023 forecast but still predicted growth, of 0.8 percent.
For the current year, IfW, IWH, and RWI still expect the German economy to grow, but not as strongly as previously thought, with the forecasts ranging between 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent….