Wholesale prices increase by 6.0 percent 13. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, wholesale prices increased by 6.0% in February 2008 in comparison with February last year. In January and December the annual price change rates had been +6.6% and +5.1% respectively. Compared to January 2008 the whole sale price index fell by 0.2%.
10 percent more imports and exports in January 12. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot In January 2008 84.4 billion Euros worth of goods were exported from Germany. The value of imported goods amounted to 67.3 billion Euros. These preliminary figures were published by the Federal Statistical Office. In comparison with the figures of January last year exports and imports increased by 9% and 10.2% respectively.
6 percent more overnight stays in January 12. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were 19.6 million overnight stays registered in January 2008 which is a plus of 6% as compared to January last year. This increase relates to both overnight stays by German and foreign tourists (16.6 and 3.0 million respectively). In comparison with December 2007 the number of overnight stays …
CeBIT exhibitors return with full order books 12. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot This year’s CeBIT was an outstanding success. Visitors and exhibitors are filled with enthusiasm. This is the conclusion drawn by the Deutsche Messe AG after the end of the CeBIT in Hannover. In fact the number of visitors was 3% higher than last year.
Laptops for 150 Euros available from summer onwards? 12. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot The editorial office of the Capital Online magazine disseminates that the new “Atom” mini chip by Intel was going to cost less than 35 Euros. This information is said to have leaked out from business circles to the Capital journalists during the CeBIT computer fair. As a consequence the Capital experts assume that from summer …
Order volume in industry down in January 11. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to preliminary data by the Federal Statistical Office, the volume of orders received by industry fell by 1.5% in January after adjustments for price and season. In December 2007 the order intake had already diminished by 1.1%. Even though the amount of major orders was once more above average in January, it fell short …
Key interest rate unchanged at 4.0 percent 7. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot At its meeting the council of the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday decided to leave the three most important key interest rates at 4.00%, 5.00% and 3.00% respectively.
Retail sale turnover increased by 0.4% in Eurozone 7. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot As was reported by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, in January 2008 the volume of turnover in the retail sale business increased by 0.4% in the Eurozone (EZ15) and by 0.6% in the EU27 as compared to December 2007. In comparison with January 2007 turnover decreased by 0.1% in the Eurozone while it …
Economy loses momentum in Europe 6. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot As compared to the third quarter of 2007 GDP increased by just 0.4% and by 0.5% in the Eurozone EZ13 and the EU27 respectively in the fourth quarter of 2007. These are estimates by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. In the third quarter 2007 the respective growth rates had been +0.7% and +0.8%.
Less relocations abroad 6. March 2008 by Thomas Jannot German companies do not relocate their operations to regions outside Germany as frequently any more. Between 15 and 25% even return to Germany, because gains due to lower wage costs are set off by lower quality and flexibility. A new software by the ISI Fraunhofer-Institute provides support in making the right decisions prior to relocation.