Forecasting and Economic Policy

Departmental Focus

The Forecasting and Economic Policy Team analyses and forecasts economic trends in Germany and its most important sales markets. They publish the monthly DIW Economic Barometer, the quarterly DIW Economic Outlook, and participate in the Joint Economic Forecast, the spring and fall reports of the leading economic research institutes. The Team analyses the consequences of economic policy interventions, such as the real economic effects as well as the distributional effects of fiscal and monetary policy stimuli. Moreover, they develop forecasting models using household microdata, such as that from SOEP, in addition to macroeconomic data. The experts on this team are sought-after contacts at ministries, institutes, parliaments, and the press.

Infographic of the DIW-Weekly Report 36/2026 titled “German economy: Export surprise lifts growth, domestic demand yet to get going!” showing annual German GDP growth rates from 2019 to 2028. The horizontal axis represents years, and the vertical axis shows year-on-year GDP growth in percent, ranging approximately from -8% to +8%. A stacked bar chart displays the contributions of consumption, investment, exports, and imports to economic growth. GDP growth is shown as 1.1% in 2019, -4.0% in 2020, 4.0% in 2021, 1.9% in 2022, -1.0% in 2023, 0.0% in 2024, 0.2% in 2025, 1.2% in 2026, 1.0% in 2027, and 0.7% in 2028. Historical data and forecast values are distinguished, with forecasts covering the later years of the timeline. The chart indicates a strong decline in 2020, a rebound in 2021, weak or negative growth between 2023 and 2025, and moderate positive growth from 2026 onward. Source: DIW Economic Forecast Autumn 2026.

DIW-Economic Outlook Autumn

German economy grows, but not on its own strength - global economy stays on course

To the forecast

News

List of news

Team

Publications

keyboard_arrow_up