By Klaus Lauer and Maria Martinez
BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) – German small and medium-sized enterprises are rapidly losing confidence in the government’s ability to restore economic growth, with only 39% still expecting a turnaround compared to 62% in spring, a DZ Bank survey showed on Monday.
The survey of more than 1,000 managing directors and decision-makers from the Mittelstand sector revealed disillusionment across key policy areas including energy prices, taxes and bureaucracy.
Confidence in infrastructure improvements fell particularly sharply, dropping to 43% from 58% in spring.
Germany’s parliament approved in March plans for a massive multi-year spending surge, including 500 billion euros ($587.40 billion) for infrastructure and plans to largely remove defence investment from the rules that cap borrowing.
Some 44% of respondents expect the government’s fiscal programmes for infrastructure and defence to fizzle out, according to the survey.
“After the new government initially started with positive momentum and a certain amount of confidence on the part of entrepreneurs, disillusionment is spreading,” said Stefan Beismann, a member of DZ Bank’s board of directors.
The survey showed clear differences by company size.
Only 35% of the smallest firms with turnover below 5 million euros consider a return to growth realistic, compared to 46% of larger companies with turnover above 50 million euros.
($1 = 0.8512 euros)
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, writing by Maria MartinezEditing by Ludwig Burger)
