If the economy is successfully navigated towards a steeper growth path, general interest rates will pick up, too. 2 Structural changes Ladies and gentlemen, For all the headlines about the current dip in economic activity, we should not lose sight of the longer  horizon.
Looking back, some observers have dubbed the ten years which followed the global financial crisis a “golden decade” for the German economy. • Today’s real per capita GDP is nearly 18% up on the 2009 figure. • Employment numbers have never been this good; joblessness has dropped to its lowest level since reunification. • Corporate insolvency rates are historically low.