The German-British Business Outlook - Autumn 2022

5 November 2022

“Challenging times ahead”, but for the German-British business community the UK is still a relatively good market and place for doing business.

According to our autumn survey, the outlook for the German-British business community shows a relatively balanced picture, but it has worsened over the last six months, with only a quarter of respondents expecting their business to perform better over the coming twelve months.

In terms of the overall development of the UK economy, firms take a much more negative view, as only 5% expect the UK economy to perform better (81% expect it to perform worse or significantly worse over the coming twelve months).

However, nearly 40% of companies still expect to hire new employees over the coming year – even if this is a somewhat lower figure than in spring 2022 (50%), it suggests that demand for labour is still going strong.

Rising energy/input costs (cost pressures) and skills shortages have become the largest challenges faced by our business community. Additionally, logistical problems, a lack of demand as well as trade barriers continue to be high up on the agenda. In other words, the war in the Ukraine, supply chain bottlenecks, inflation and Brexit continue to have a significant impact on businesses.

As a result of the current crises, only a few companies have relocated or plan to move some of their business activities to other locations. This suggests that despite the current political and economic uncertainty, companies still value the operating environment in the UK.

Dr Ulrich Hoppe, Director General of the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce, commented, "The survey results suggest that the German-British business community is not immune to global trends, but so far it has successfully managed to navigate the current challenges.”

59 online interviews were conducted with members of the German-British business community with UK operations. The study was part of the World Business Outlook and conducted in conjunction with the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Fieldwork was conducted between 13 and 21 October 2022.

The full results can be found here.

Kindly supplied by The German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce

Follow Chamber International on Twitter @ChamberInt and on Facebook for the latest in international trade.