A closely watched survey has shown that German business confidence deteriorated for the fourth month in a row in May.
The business climate index, calculated each month by the Ifo economic research institute, fell to 92.9 points in May from 93.3 points in April. The reading was worse than expected - analysts had predicted the index would stabilise at around 93.4 points this month.
'The index has fallen slightly again after already declining in the preceding three months,' Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn said.
'Companies have once again become more sceptical about the outlook for the next six months, although their assessment of their current situation has stabilised. Unfortunately, we're not likely to see any improvement in the economy in the coming months,' Sinn said.
For its monthly survey, Ifo polls around 7,000 companies about their assessment of current business and their expectations for the next six months.
A breakdown of the data showed that companies were feeling fractionally more confident about their current situation, but a lot less optimistic about the six-month outlook.
The current sentiment sub-index edged up to 93.4 points in May from 93.1 points in April. But the expectations sub-index fell to 92.3 points from 93.6 points.
