Through its academic survey, the Research Centre of the Deutsche Bundesbank is obtaining a picture of the current situation among firms in Germany and gaining greater insight into their expectations for the coming months. Over time, the survey also provides crucial information on changes within the corporate sector.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, a nearly unchanged 14 % of firms reported conducting negotiations with a view to taking out a loan in the previous quarter. However, the share of firms that received a loan at the desired conditions rose to 32 % (previous quarter: 28 %). The share of firms whose loan negotiations ended without a deal fell to 17 % in the same period (previous quarter: 20 %).

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the assessments of firms in Germany were largely unchanged. Short-term liquidity fell among 33 % of firms and rose among 20 % (previous quarter: 33 % and 19 %, respectively). The spread between these two figures thus narrowed by only one percentage point to 13 %.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, there was also only a slight change in firms’ expectations for the next 12 months. In the fourth quarter of 2024, significantly more firms expected a decrease in short-term liquidity (30 %; previous quarter: 28 %) than an increase (15 %; previous quarter: 16 %). Compared with the third quarter of 2024, the gap between these two groups thus widened by three percentage points to 15 %.

In the third quarter of 2024, firms again considered the high level of regulation and government rules to be their greatest challenge in the short term. In September, this was considered to be the greatest challenge by 68 % of firms, closely followed by the poor availability of workers, which was considered to be a serious problem by 58 % of firms. In addition, for the first time since the beginning of the survey, significantly more firms (37 %) indicated in September that high competitive pressure would pose a challenge over the next six months compared with those that did not consider this a problem (31 %). High energy prices, by contrast, were considered to be a future problem by an ever shrinking share of firms in the third quarter of 2024. In September, this share stood at 41 %, which was its lowest value since this question was introduced to the survey in January 2024.