, Columnist
An Industrial Crisis Is Brewing in Germany
The country’s position as the “engine of Europe” is under genuine threat.
Spontaneous combustion.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In the darkest days of the 2009 recession, Germany’s industrial output was collapsing at an annual rate of more than 20%. An unfathomable implosion but one that thankfully ended almost as quickly as it started.
Some 10 years on, a crisis is brewing once again in the country’s industrial heartlands. The pain could prove more enduring this time.