Germany's economic weakness has security and geopolitical implications. This was stated by the German Minister of Finance and head of the Free Democratic Party of the Free Democrats, Christian Lindner, quoted by Reuters.
In his words, the country needs economic growth, because after all, economic power is also a factor in geopolitics.
Putin's goal is to exercise power over us, and we must never allow that to happen. But in order to have the necessary funds against this, economic growth is needed, noted Lindner.
The German economy was the weakest among major eurozone countries last year as high energy costs, weak global orders and record high interest rates took their toll.
This year is also expected to be a challenge for Europe's largest economy. In its outlook for the world economy, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for German gross domestic product growth by 0.3 percentage points over the two years, expecting growth of 0.2% this year and 1.3% in 2025.
These forecasts are below estimates of 0.8% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025 for the eurozone, indicating that Germany is lagging behind after suffering a recession.