In the wake of giving in to US pressure and severing its energy supply from Russia, Germany has, according to Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, economically shot itself in the foot.
Germany’s economy has been shrinking continuously in recent years; among the G7 nations, Germany is the only economy that contracted in 2023.
In an interview with the newly launched RT Balkan TV channel, which was published on Saturday, Zakharova said: “A few years ago, Germany recorded fantastic growth rates, and all the factors suggested that Germany was on the verge of a rapid development.”
According to the Russian diplomat, “cooperation with our country was one of the factors for Germany’s economic growth.” However, “due to the influence of the US, the cooperation was cut off, and the energy source was blocked” Zakharova stated, referring to the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines by underwater explosions in September 2022.
“The loss of the ability to pursue a nationally oriented policy” led, so the spokeswoman, to the economy of the country “crumbling.” As a result, “German companies have begun to emigrate to other countries, where it is more favorable for their business” Zakharova concluded.
This assessment can also be found in a similar form in a Bloomberg analysis from the past week. The portal warned that Germany’s export-oriented industry, now in its second year of no growth, is facing an irreversible decline. The article points to years of “poor” government decisions and the loss of the favorable Russian energy, with the automotive industry, including giants like Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, bearing the main brunt, according to Bloomberg.
At the beginning of the month, the German Economics Minister, Robert Habeck, acknowledged: “Our business model is really being squeezed.” He cited the failure of Berlin to invest sufficiently in infrastructure, the tax system, and the qualification of the workforce over the past few years as the causes. His own responsibility, such as the abandonment of Russian energy, which he actively pursued, or the destabilization of the power grid, was not mentioned by Habeck.
Around the same time, the German Central Bank reduced its economic growth forecast for the coming year from 0.3% to a decline of 0.2%.
“The German economy will stagnate in the winter half of 2024/25 and only slowly recover in the course of 2025” it said. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel warned of “structural problems.”
If the future US President, Donald Trump, were to make good on his threats to impose massive tariffs on European goods, Germany’s GDP could shrink by between 0.2 and 0.6 percent in the coming year, according to the Bundesbank.