Published: 11 Dec 09 10:14 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091211-23879.html
Nearly three quarters of Germans fear the spread of Islam, according to a survey released on Friday.
A third of those asked expressed great concern that Islam was growing too quickly in Germany. Thirty-nine percent were still worried about Islam’s impact on society, but to a lesser degree. Only 22 percent said they had no problem with the religion.
A separate survey for daily Berliner Morgenpost and broadcaster RBB showed, however, that a majority in the German capital did not support banning the construction of mosques with minarets as Switzerland did following a recent referendum on the issue.
Fifty-three percent of those Berliners surveyed rejected slapping such restrictions on Muslim houses of worship, whereas 40 percent supported such a move. Seven percent had no opinion on the matter.
Published: 10 Dec 09 19:36 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20091210-23871.html
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned on Thursday Berlin's deficit will exceed 5.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, as the country's public borrowing balloons to €145 billion ($213 billion).
The deficit includes a shortfall generated by the federal government as well as Germany's 16 states and thousands of municipalities.
By itself, the federal deficit will amount to more than €100 billion, compared with €60 billion this year, a result of massive government spending to pull Europe's biggest economy out of a historic post-war recession.
The new centre-right government in place since October has favoured stimulus measures such as tax cuts to keep an uneven recovery on track, even if it means letting the massive deficit climb higher. And the forecast by German authorities pales in comparison with one by Greek officials who expect a public deficit of more than 12 percent of GDP this year.
Germany finds itself roughly in the middle of the European Union's 27 members and its long-term debt retained Wednesday a top rating of "AAA" from Standard and Poor's, which welcomed Berlin's "fiscal consolidation and spending discipline."
In 2010 however, German spending is expected to increase by more then 10 percent from its level this year, while revenues are forecast to decline by seven percent.
Germany's overall debt is estimated to reach 78 percent of GDP meanwhile, way above a 60 percent limit laid down in the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact.
The pact sets the public deficit ceiling at no more than three percent of GDP and says governments should work towards a balance in times of economic growth.
Schäuble has pledged to do all he can to respect the Stability Pact's terms again by 2013. Berlin is counting on renewed growth to generate jobs and tax revenues that would replenish the public coffers.
US should take Germany as example, says Obama advisor
Published: 13 Dec 09 11:34 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091213-23907.html
One of President Barack Obama's senior economic advisors Paul Volcker said the US could take a leaf out of Germany's book when it comes to creating an export-based economy.
Speaking in an interview with news magazine Der Spiegel, Volcker said he admired Germany's economic model, and suggested that the US should consider a shift towards exporting to help the US recover from the economic crisis.
"In some ways, I think the labour cost is higher in Germany than it is in the United States but you can somehow maintain that export edge," Volcker said, "You are dedicated to exporting, we are dedicated to financial engineering and it hasn't worked out too well."
Volcker, who is chairman of the US Economic Recovery Advisory Board, added, "I wish we had fewer financial engineers and more mechanical engineers. Tell me the secret of how the Germans keep this going."
Volcker also said that while the US was doing okay in researching and developing new technologies, it was leaving all the manufacturing to other countries, particularly Germany.
The 82-year-old is more pessimistic about the US economy than some of his colleagues, most notably Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, who recently declared the recession over.
"The recovery is quite slow and I expect it to continue to be pretty slow and restrained for a variety of reasons, and the possibility of a relapse can't be entirely discounted," said Volcker, "I'm not predicting it but I think we have to be careful." The veteran economist said it was "amazing" how quickly people are forgetting the global financial meltdown and want to return to business as usual.
Volcker said that there was a fundamentally different psychology in Germany than in the US, which allowed a lot of manufacturing be outsourced.
"The young, ambitious Germans realize that export industry and heavy engineering is the German competitive advantage," he told the magazine, "The best Americans don't even think about that. We have the Silicon Valley and that whole kind of high tech industry is still our strength but we need something broader than that too."
Published: 13 Dec 09 09:12 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20091213-23905.html
Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen began production of its popular mass-market Polo hatchback in India on Saturday, announcing it aimed to grab up to 10 percent of the fast-growing automobile market there.
The German company, which is jostling to overtake world leader Toyota, rolled out Volkswagen's first locally manufactured Polo from its plant in Pune in western India, giving it a niche in the country's crucial small car segment.
Volkswagen Group said it hopes to capture up to a tenth of the Indian car market in the next four to six years as part of a strategy to boost sales in emerging countries to counter anaemic growth in saturated Western markets.
The company, which entered India in 2001, now holds 1.5 percent of the Indian market, company spokesman Kurt Rippholz told news agency AFP.
The start of Polo's production in India "marks a milestone in our journey together into a successful future for the Volkswagen Group in India", Jochem Heizmann, a member of the company's management board, said in a statement.
India, where new car sales soared 61 percent year-on-year in November, holds "enormous potential" for Volkswagen, he added.
The Pune plant, which has the capacity to produce 110,000 cars annually, is a key plank in Volkswagen's India strategy. The firm has invested 850 million dollars in the plant, its biggest investment so far in India.
The Indian price for the Polo has not yet been announced, but it is seen as a vital model for Volkswagen to penetrate the market in India where small cars make up 80 percent of annual car sales.
"Volkswagen will be present in the mass market segment and therefore this is an important step," company spokesman Rippholz said. In Europe, the Polo has won more than 130,000 orders since the new model was launched in May.
Analysts say India holds huge promise for automakers as the country of nearly 1.2 billion people has one of the world's least penetrated car markets.
Nearly all big global carmakers such as General Motors, Ford and Renault are present in India where annual car sales are forecast to triple to six million in the next decade, according to industry estimates.
The Polo rollout came days after Volkswagen bought a one-fifth stake in Suzuki Motor for 2.5 billion dollars, seeking to tap the Japanese firm's small car prowess and dominant Indian market share.
The purchase gives Volkswagen an additional footprint in India as Suzuki holds a majority share in Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker with 50 percent of the market.
The spokesman said he could not comment on media reports that Volkswagen and Suzuki plan to develop a new small car for the Indian market.
Volkswagen already sells its Passat and Jetta sedans in India as well as its premium Phaeton and Touareg SUV. The company also recently began selling in India its new Beetle, the remake of the iconic "bug".
The company aims to boost its market share with the Volkswagen Group brands - Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda. It began producing its Skoda Fabia in 2009 at the Pune plant and plans to launch a saloon car in the second half of 2010.
"These products - in particular our Polo - will help us to increase our share of this growing market significantly," Heizmann said.
