Upbeat German exporters

German shipments abroad would reach a record volume of 1.172 trillion euros ($1.469 trillion) next year, the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) predicted Wednesday.

It said this would mark a 4-percent rise in exports year-on-year, up from a forecast 1.126 trillion euros in 2014.

"Despite a number of geopolitical crises and economic risk factors around, global economic developments are not that bad after all," BGA President Anton Börner told reporters in Berlin.

A few downsides, too

He warned, though, that despite the growth prospects, Germany's share in overall global exports had been on its way down for quite some time now.

Between 2003 and 2013, the country's share in global shipments abroad sank from 9.9 percent to 7.7 percent while China's share doubled over the same period. This was due, however, to China's rapid expansion - not to any decline in German exports.

The BGA praised the German government for refraining from tax hikes and for its efforts towards a balanced budget. In the same breath, the industry association criticized the country's high energy prices, and slammed underinvestment in the nation's infrastructure - which it said was extremely harmful to an advanced country like Germany.

Impact of sanctions

The association also predicted that western sanctions against Moscow would depress export sales long-term.

It said German exports to Russia were already down by a third compared to the time before sanctions were introduced in protest of Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its subsequent role in the crisis in Ukraine.

The BGA also warned that exports would drop further if all the threatened sanctions are imposed or if new ones are adopted.

hg/nz (dpa, Reuters)