Germany Business Confidence

Last Release

Jan 31, 2026

Actual

87.6

Units In

Points

87.6

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Feb 23, 2026

Time to Release

26 Days 11 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
109.8 Jan 1991	75.4 Apr 2020	96.68 Points	1991-2026	IFO Institute

In Germany, the IFO Business Climate Index measures entrepreneurs’ sentiment about current business situation and their expectations for the next 6 months. The survey is made by phone and covers 9,000 firms in manufacturing, the service sector, trade and construction. The Business Climate Balance is constructed as the difference between the percentage share of executives that are optimistic and the share that are pessimistic. This balance can take values between -100 (all responding firms assess their situation as poor and expect business to deteriorate) and +100 (all responding firms assessed their situation as good and expect an improvement in their business). For the calculation of the IFO Business Climate Index, the Balance is normalized to the average of a base year (currently 2015).

Latest Updates

Germany’s Ifo Business Climate Index remained unchanged at 87.6 in January 2026, holding near its lowest level since May 2025 and below market expectations of 88.1, suggesting Europe’s largest economy is starting the year with little momentum. Assessments of the current situation inched up to 85.7 from 85.6, while expectations slipped slightly to 89.5 from 89.7. By sector, a decline in the service industry (-2.6 vs -2.1) offset gains in other areas, with sentiment improving among manufacturers (-12.2 vs -14.6), traders (-21.1 vs -24.6), and construction firms (-14.2 vs -14.9).