Germany Zew Economic Sentiment Index

Last Release

Apr 30, 2025

Actual

-14

Units In

N/A

51.6

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

May 13, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 11 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
89.6 Jan 2000	-63.9 Jul 2008	20.92	1991-2025	Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

In Germany, the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index measures the level of optimism that analysts have about the expected economic developments over the next 6 months. The survey covers up to 350 financial and economic analysts. The index is constructed as the difference between the percentage share of analysts that are optimistic and the percentage of analysts that are pessimistic about the development of the economy. Therefore, the ZEW indicator measures the confidence on a scale of -100 (all analysts expect the economy to deteriorate) up to 100 (all analysts expect it to improve). A 0 value indicates neutrality.

Latest Updates

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany sank to -14 in April 2025, the lowest since July 2023, from 51.6 in March, and much worse than forecasts of 9.5. It marks the steepest drop in expectations since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as unpredictable shifts in US trade policy continue to weigh heavily on sentiment. "Not only the potential consequences of the announced reciprocity tariffs for global trade, but also the dynamic nature of their changes have led to a massive increase in global uncertainty. Export-intensive sectors such as the automotive and chemical industries, as well as metal, machinery, and steel production, which have recently seen significant improvements, are particularly affected", ZEW President Prof. Achim Wambach, PhD, said. Meanwhile, the assessment of the current economic situation improved slightly to -81.2 from -87.6.