German business confidence rises in March

German business confidence rose in March as companies become less sceptical about the outlook for Europe's biggest economy, the Ifo economic institute said on Tuesday.

The Ifo institute's closely-watched business climate index rose by a stronger-than-expected one point to 16.7 points in March, Ifo said in a statement.

Ifo calculates its headline index on the basis of companies' assessments of the current business environment and the outlook for the next six months.

The sub-index measuring current business rose by 0.9 point to 113.8 points and the outlook sub-index climbed by 1.1 points to 100 points, the institute said.

"German businesses are less sceptical than in February," said Ifo chief Hans-Werner Sinn.

"Assessments of the current business situation improved, reaching their highest level in six months. After last month's sharp decline, expectations also recovered somewhat," Sinn said.
Source: AFP