2022.04.1210:04:00UTC+00German ZEW Economic Confidence Weakens In April

German economic confidence weakened further in April but at a slower-than-expected pace, survey results from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed on Tuesday.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell to -41.0 in April from -39.3 in March. However, economists had forecast the index to decline more sharply to -48.0.

The assessment of the economic situation worsened significantly in April. The corresponding indicator declined to -30.8 from -21.4 in the previous month. The expected score was -35.0.

This was the second time the indicator has recorded a decrease since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The survey showed that inflation expectations for Germany fell by 43.4 points to a new value of 26.8 points.

The experts are pessimistic about the current economic situation and assume that it will continue to deteriorate, ZEW President Achim Wambach, said.

The decline in inflation expectations, which cuts the previous month's considerable increase by about half, gives some cause for hope, Wambach added. However, the prospect of stagflation over the next six months remains.

Experts' sentiment concerning the economic development of the eurozone also deteriorated in April. The confidence index slid 4.3 points to -43.0 points. The situation indicator fell to a new level of -28.5 points, dropping 6.6 points compared to the previous month.

Inflation expectations for the currency bloc declined 43.6 points in the current survey.

Data released earlier in the day showed that Germany's consumer price inflation hit its highest level since the reunification. Inflation rose to 7.3 percent from 5.1 percent in February.