“We expect an increase of up to five percent in exports to €1.158 trillion in 2013 and a 5.5-percent rise in imports to €980 billion,” said BGA chief Anton Börner in a new year’s message.
Despite the eurozone crisis, Germany achieved record exports in 2012, added Börner, amounting to €1.103 trillion, and a trade surplus of €174 billion.
Börner said the bullish projection was based on “stability and no new volatility on the financial markets. Europe, the United States and China have a lot of homework to do in the new year in this respect,” he said.
He said order books for next year were full “especially from the growth markets in Asia” and added that the low value of the euro on the currency markets was helping trade with the United States and Japan.
However, he cautioned that “the European debt crisis will be with us for a long time yet” and said he was especially concerned about what he said were “increasingly protectionist trends in several eastern European countries.”
“By going alone down this protectionist road, these countries are harming not only our exports but also massively harming themselves,” said Börner.
AFP/bk
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