Germany’s ifo Business Climate Index rose to 89 in August from 88.6 in July, the highest level since May 2024 and above forecasts of 88.6. Companies’ expectations for the coming months improved (91.6 vs 90.7), while assessments of the current situation declined slightly (86.4 vs 86.5), reflecting a still-weak economic recovery. In manufacturing, sentiment fell marginally (-12.2 vs -11.9), with firms less satisfied with current conditions and no growth in orders, though capital goods manufacturers showed notable optimism. The service sector saw a slight decline despite better current conditions (2.6 vs 2.8), as expectations turned more cautious, though architecture and engineering firms were more positive. Trade sentiment weakened (-21.4 vs -20.3) due to poorer performance, even as future expectations became slightly less pessimistic. Construction showed a minor drop after months of stability (-15.3 vs -14.3), with lower satisfaction now but an improved outlook for the months ahead. source: Ifo Institute

Business Confidence in Germany increased to 89 points in August from 88.60 points in July of 2025. Business Confidence in Germany averaged 96.82 points from 1991 until 2025, reaching an all time high of 109.80 points in January of 1991 and a record low of 75.00 points in April of 2020. This page provides the latest reported value for - Germany Business Confidence - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news. Germany Ifo Business Climate Index - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on September of 2025.

Business Confidence in Germany increased to 89 points in August from 88.60 points in July of 2025. Business Confidence in Germany is expected to be 88.40 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Germany Ifo Business Climate Index is projected to trend around 87.00 points in 2026 and 91.00 points in 2027, according to our econometric models.



Calendar GMT Reference Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2025-07-25 08:00 AM
Ifo Business Climate
Jul 88.6 88.4 89.0 88.9
2025-08-25 08:00 AM
Ifo Business Climate
Aug 89.0 88.6 88.6 87
2025-09-24 08:00 AM
Ifo Business Climate
Sep 89.0 88.4

Components Last Previous Unit Reference
Ifo Current Conditions 86.40 86.50 points Aug 2025
Ifo Expectations 91.60 90.80 points Aug 2025

Related Last Previous Unit Reference
Ifo Business Climate 89.00 88.60 points Aug 2025
Capacity Utilization 77.10 76.90 percent Sep 2025

Germany Ifo Business Climate Index
In Germany, the IFO Business Climate Index measures entrepreneurs’ sentiment about current business situation and their expectations for the next 6 months. The survey is made by phone and covers 9,000 firms in manufacturing, the service sector, trade and construction. The Business Climate Balance is constructed as the difference between the percentage share of executives that are optimistic and the share that are pessimistic. This balance can take values between -100 (all responding firms assess their situation as poor and expect business to deteriorate) and +100 (all responding firms assessed their situation as good and expect an improvement in their business). For the calculation of the IFO Business Climate Index, the Balance is normalized to the average of a base year (currently 2015).
Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
89.00 88.60 109.80 75.00 1991 - 2025 points Monthly
2015=100, SA

News Stream
Germany ifo Business Sentiment Rises to 15-Month High
Germany’s ifo Business Climate Index rose to 89 in August from 88.6 in July, the highest level since May 2024 and above forecasts of 88.6. Companies’ expectations for the coming months improved (91.6 vs 90.7), while assessments of the current situation declined slightly (86.4 vs 86.5), reflecting a still-weak economic recovery. In manufacturing, sentiment fell marginally (-12.2 vs -11.9), with firms less satisfied with current conditions and no growth in orders, though capital goods manufacturers showed notable optimism. The service sector saw a slight decline despite better current conditions (2.6 vs 2.8), as expectations turned more cautious, though architecture and engineering firms were more positive. Trade sentiment weakened (-21.4 vs -20.3) due to poorer performance, even as future expectations became slightly less pessimistic. Construction showed a minor drop after months of stability (-15.3 vs -14.3), with lower satisfaction now but an improved outlook for the months ahead.
2025-08-25
German Business Sentiment Rises Modestly in July
The Ifo Business Climate Index for Germany edged up to 88.6 in July 2025, from 88.4 in June, marking the highest reading since May 2024. However, the result came in slightly below market expectations of 89.0, suggesting that business sentiment remains cautious and the economic recovery in Europe's largest economy continues at a sluggish pace. The improvement was driven by a marginal uptick in both current assessments (86.5 vs 86.2) and business expectations (90.7 vs 90.6), indicating firms are becoming slightly less pessimistic about economic conditions. Across industries, sentiment improved among manufacturers (-11.8 vs. -13.9) and constructors (-14.0 vs. -15.1), but weakened among service providers (2.7 vs. 3.8) and traders (-20.2 vs. -19.2).
2025-07-25
Germany Ifo Business Climate Highest in Nearly a Year
The Ifo Business Climate indicator for Germany rose to 88.4 in June 2025, the highest in nearly a year, compared to 87.5 in May and slightly above forecasts of 88.2. The expectations gauge jumped to 90.7, the highest since April 2023 from an upwardly revised 89 in the previous month. The index measuring current conditions edged up to 86.2 from 86.1. " The German economy is slowly gaining confidence", Ifo president Clemens Fuest said. The index saw a particularly strong improvement in the services sector, where companies assessed their current situation more positively and significantly raised their future expectations. In manufacturing, the business climate improved slightly. While companies were more optimistic about the months ahead, current business conditions deteriorated, and firms remained highly dissatisfied with their order backlogs. In the retail sector, sentiment also improved, with retailers reporting greater satisfaction with current business and a less pessimistic outlook.
2025-06-24