BERLIN: Germany’s BDI industry association expects exports to grow by 2% in 2023, double its forecast in January, its president told the Rheinische Post newspaper in comments published on Saturday.

“Things are looking up, but only slowly - we must not be satisfied with that,” BDI President Siegfried Russwurm told the newspaper.

Even with the improved outlook, Germany still lags behind the forecast for global trade of 2.5% export growth, according to BDI figures cited in the report.

Export growth has slowed considerably since Germany’s post-pandemic recovery. Exports grew by 2.9% in 2022 and 9.1% in 2021.

The BDI president said Germany was falling behind other countries where energy prices are not as high.

“The reality is that energy-intensive companies in particular are increasingly relocating parts of their production abroad,” Russwurm said.