Economist and personal adviser to Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, Jens Südekum, says he expects the reform agenda unveiled this week to at least double Germany’s economic growth potential. “Doubling the potential growth is absolutely realistic” Südekum told the ntv website.
The German economy is currently growing only weakly, largely because the working‑age population is shrinking. “The reform agenda that has just started aims precisely to reverse that trend – more people in work, more and longer hours, higher productivity through new technologies and investments in capital stock” Südekum, who helped draft the proposals, explained. “That will create growth and keep special funds and state debt sustainable”.
Klingbeil’s agenda stretches beyond the reform plans of the former “traffic‑light” coalition, whose possible impact on potential growth experts had estimated at up to 0.9 percent. Therefore, a doubling-from 0.5 percent to 1.0 percent growth in this legislative period-is, from the economist’s view, “a rather conservative estimate”.