Business confidence down

A closely watched indicator of business confidence in Germany fell for the fifth consecutive month in September, data revealed Wednesday, underscoring worries that Europe's largest economy is slowing down.

The Munich-based Ifo economic institute's business climate index, which gauged confidence among 7,000 managers, fell more than expected to 104.7 points in September from 106.3 points in August.

"Germany's economic motor isn't running smoothly anymore," said Hans-Werner Sinn, the think-tank's president.

The index's slide confirmed doubts that robust growth could be expected in the second half of the year. Economic uncertainty had already been stoked by the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The Ifo institute also noted a discrepancy in income between Germans living in the former East versus the West. Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the per-capita gross domestic product of states once behind the Iron Curtain is 66 percent lower than that of states which once belonged to West Germany.

The economy in eastern Germany has expanded by 20 percent from 1995 to 2013, but that growth was eclipsed by the 27-percent growth seen in the West.

The East-West revelations came as the German government prepared to release its own appraisal of the status of German unity in the run-up to the country's Unity Day national holiday on Oct. 3.

According to the Annual Report of the Federal Government on the Status of German Unity, the economies in the former East are 30 weaker than those in the West.

That discrepancy is also apparent in the tax revenues yielded on either side of the historical border. In the former East, average per capita tax revenues totaled 937 euros. In the former West, it was 1,837 euros.

cjc/hg (dpa, AFP, Reuters)