Economics

Manufacturing Slump Drags Germany Ever Closer to a Recession

  • Expectations fall further amid global slowdown, trade tensions
  • Government has so far resisted calls to add fiscal stimulus

An employee secures seat belt fittings inside an automobile on the assembly line at a factory in Cologne.

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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Germany’s manufacturing slump is dragging the economy closer to recession, with warnings continuing to pile up about the dire state of industry.

Business expectations in Europe’s largest economy fell to the lowest in a decade this month, with the mood among factory executives the main reason. According to the Ifo institute, which compiles the sentiment report, there is “only one direction: downward.”