BIS Review 126/2006  3  Germany has often been dubbed “the sick man of Europe”. How accurate is that description nowadays? I always considered this description wrong and I think my sentiment is shared by my colleagues in the Governing Council, by Jürgen Stark and by Axel Weber.
At an aggregate level, corporate profit growth in the third quarter of 2015 (known as the gross operating surplus) was at its lowest level on record at 0,3 per cent year-on-year. This was due to declining profitability in agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Pressure on corporate income suggests that investment, consumption, and hiring by the private sector will be muted in 2016.