Written by Maria Martinez
LONDON (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Monday that Germany was not Europe's sick man but an unfit country in need of structural reforms to improve its competitiveness.
“Some people say Germany is the sick man of Europe, but I don't think so,” Lindner said at a London School of Economics event. “We are unfit people.”
Europe's biggest economy was the weakest of any other major euro zone country last year, hit by high energy costs, weak global orders and record high interest rates.
For this reason, some economists have called Germany the “sick man of Europe.”
According to the International Monetary Fund's forecast, Germany's economic growth rate is expected to be 0.9% in 2024, well below the developed-country average of 1.4%.
The minister said Germany's economy was “healthy, but not in the best shape” compared to the UK economy. “The economies of both countries are in decline.”
In January, Germany told the World Economic Forum that it was a “tired people” in need of a raft of structural reforms. Speaking in London, he said Germany needed to cut red tape, attract workers to the labor market and mobilize private investment.
Lindner said the EU needed a single capital market for private investment, not more subsidies.
“It is unlikely that there will be an economy that can afford to pay subsidies for a very long period of time,” Lindner said.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
