New contest to promote internet use 15. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology today launched a contest called »Wege ins Netz«. This context is to award exemplary actions and initiatives aimed at increasing the internet use among the general public. In addition, a special prize called »Migration« is to honour projects and initiatives addressing themselves to younger or elderly people …
Mobile phone and internet telephony on the increase, fixed line network business stagnating 15. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Net Agency in 2006 people in Germany talked almost 7% longer on the phone than in 2005 which corresponds to about 60 hours on a per capita basis. 23% of this time, however, was not talked on the traditional fixed line network where the amount of phoned time has virtually not …
Progressive people use biodiesel 14. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to a survey by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Qualitätsmanagement Biodiesel (AGQM) the carrying business was the most important customer of the German biodiesel economy consuming 1.25 mio tons of this environment-friendly fuel. Experts believe that the tax-privileged price of biodiesel helped to prevent Germans from refuelling abroad.
One third of German companies use e-government 14. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot According to the Federal Statistical Office one in three German companies use the internet in order to communicate with public authorities. Taking into account solely those companies with access to the internet this percentage of companies making use of e-government rises to 41%. Small enterprises and the retail sector, however, are still quite reluctant to …
EU and USA leave key interest rates unchanged 11. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) left key interest rates unchanged. In Dublin the ECB council yesterday decided to leave the key interest rate at 3.75%. On Wednesday the Fed had announced that it would not change its key interest rate which currently stands at 5.25%. Both decisions had …
Big salaries for sales representatives 11. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot The sales department is very important for the success of any company. This fact is also reflected by salaries paid to sales representatives. A young employee in the sales department on average earns 48.000 Euros a year and the head of the sales force 131.000 Euros. Compared to the past year salaries in the field …
Holidays more important than guaranteed pensions 11. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot A representative survey carried out jointly by Postbank and the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach revealed something surprising. 61% of Germans are against the abolishment of a legal holiday in order to stabilize the national pension system. Just 26% consider this to be a good proposal. 13% are undecided or did not comment.
German exports grew by almost 10 percent in 2006 9. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot German foreign trade continues growing but at a slower pace. According to preliminary figures presented by the Federal Statistical Office, in March 2007 Germany exported goods to the value of 83.9 billion Euros whereas imports amounted to 65.5 billion Euros. Thus, in March 2007 German exports were up by 9.3% and imports by 4.6% as …
German economy probably growing by 2.5 percent 8. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot In its spring forecast the Institute for the German Economy (IWF) predicts German GDP to grow by 2.5% in real terms in the year 2007. For the next year the forecast figure is 2.2%. This forecast figure is congruent with output estimates made by more than 2000 East and West German companies which took part …
Big increase in incoming orders in March 7. May 2007 by Thomas Jannot The amount of incoming orders sharply increased by 2.4% in March as compared to February. In February incoming orders had already been up by 4.3%. Above-average figures were registered in March in particular in terms of major orders. Domestic orders increased by 2.9% and those from abroad by 2.1%.