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In May 2026, the balance value of the ifo Business Climate Index for the German trade sector was -30 points, indicating that more wholesale and retail companies were assessing their current situation as negative rather than positive. Figures fluctuated during the timeline displayed, which covers current economic events, such as inflation levels and energy supply difficulties.

What is the ifo Business Climate?

The ifo Business Climate is an indicator for economic activity in Germany. It is based on approximately 9,000 monthly responses from businesses in manufacturing, the service sector, trade, and construction. Companies are asked to give their assessments of the current business situation and their expectations for the next six months. They can describe their situation as “good,” “satisfactory,” or “poor” and their business expectations for the next six months as “more favorable,” “unchanged,” or “less favorable.” The balance value of the current business situation is the difference in the percentage shares of the responses “good” and “poor”; the balance value of expectations is the difference in the percentage shares of the responses “more favorable” and “less favorable.” The business climate is a transformed mean of the balances of the business situation and the expectations. To calculate the index values, the transformed balances are all normalized to the average for the year 2015.