The influential Federation of German Industries (BDI) has amped up its demands for government action to halt the economic downturn, warning that Chancellor Olaf Scholz is running out of time.
"It is high time for the government to flip the switch if anything is to improve significantly in the one and a half years until the next general election," BDI chief Siegfried Russwurm told the t-online website in an interview published on Friday.
The government must "take bold and united action," said Russwurm, who recently met Scholz again to try to resolve their differences about the situation.
"We now both understand better where the other has different views and why," Russwurm said, while noting his continued "factual differences" with Scholz.
He cited the further reduction of bureaucracy, faster authorization procedures and "consistent planning for Germany's energy system" as key points to resolve. The tax and duty burden must also be reduced, he said.
While Scholz stresses what the coalition government has done in the last two years to support the economy, the decisive factor was what was actually received by the country's companies, according to Russwurm.
The head of the BDI, which is a major business lobby for German manufacturers, recently accused Scholz of underestimating the seriousness of the situation.
In a separate interview, he spoke of "two lost years - even if some of the course had already been set wrong in the time before that."
In his comments on Friday, Russwurm said he and the chancellor had agreed to continue talks in order to "consider how [they] can better reconcile both perspectives."
Meanwhile, the BDI does not currently expect any stimulus from exports after the weak year 2023, he said.
"We won't see any economic stimulus from exports this year; instead, we expect the export curve to remain flat in 2024," Russwurm told t-online. "That is a very unpleasant development."
Germany's export companies felt the effects of the weakness in global trade last year. The value of goods exports fell slightly compared with the previous year.