Germany’s share of global trade has fallen to a historic low of 6.3 per cent
Germany’s share in global trade during the chancellorship of Olaf Scholz fell to the lowest in modern history at 6.3 percent, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on data from the World Trade Organisation and the German statistical service.
Germany’s share in global trade in goods during the 16 years of Angela Merkel’s rule fell by 1.5 percentage points to 6.76 per cent. Despite the significant decline, the main ‘losses’ occurred in 2012, when the EU debt crisis erupted, and the transition year 2021. At the same time, the average rate of decline was about 0.09 percentage points.
After Scholz came to power, Germany’s contribution to world trade continued to decline, but at a much faster pace: in his first year in office, the share fell by 0.3 percentage points to 6.45 per cent. In monetary terms, on the other hand, Germany’s trade that year, amid the energy crisis, reached a record high: its exports reached 1.59 trillion euros and imports totalled 1.51 trillion.
Then, in 2023, the Germans even managed to reverse the trend and increase their share of world trade to 6.6 per cent – although overall global trade then fell by 1.2 per cent in real terms and 5 per cent in nominal terms. At the same time, sales of German goods in the world had already started to stagnate and amounted to slightly less than the level of a year earlier – 1.58 trillion euros, while imports fell by 10 per cent to 1.36 trillion.
However, Germany failed to gain momentum last year and its contribution to world trade began to fall again – by 0.3 percentage points to 6.3 per cent at the end of the year. This happened against the backdrop of a continuing decline in German trade: exports last year fell by 1.2 per cent and imports by 3 per cent. Overall, trade turnover was the lowest during Scholz’s rule – 2.87 trillion euros.
Germany will hold early parliamentary elections on Sunday, made possible by last year’s collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition of Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party. Polls bode for a triumph for the right-wing opposition bloc of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union, and a second-place finish for the even more right-wing Alternative for Germany.
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