Macroeconomic and sector-specific parameters¹

In financial year 2022/23, the global economy was shaped by geopolitical tensions, which were largely characterised by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The global economy developed significantly less dynamically compared to the previous year (cf. table ‘Development of gross domestic product by region’). Germany fell into a recession over the course of the year, and the German economy declined slightly overall. Economic development in many countries of the region West was similarly weak to that of Germany. Compared to the previous year, however, gross domestic product grew slightly in real terms. Economic performance was varied in the region East. The growth rate for the region East fell short of the previous year. The Russian economy, on the other hand, underwent slightly more positive development.

Private consumption was significantly weaker than the previous year in the regions Germany, West and East. Performance remained below the real gross domestic product. Private consumption was therefore nearly absent as a growth driver for Germany and the region West. High inflation continued to contribute to this development.

Inflation exceeded its high mark in the first half of the financial year. However, the price rises for food persisted and there was a delayed weakening reaction. Food inflation remains at a very high level, above the level of inflation as a whole, in many countries.

One factor that contributed to the decline in inflation was the significant slowdown in energy price rises, which is attributable to economic policy measures in many countries. The other factor was that the central banks took fiscal policy measures to dampen inflation. For example, the European Central Bank (ECB) carried out 8 interest rate hikes over the course of the reporting period. The positive impact of countering price increases is offset by the downside of restrictive monetary policy, which generally does not stimulate growth.

From its historically low levels, consumer confidence initially underwent a steady recovery in the members states of the European Union. The figure declined once again in the last 2 months of the financial year, however. Consumer confidence was well below the long-term average throughout the entire financial year.

Regardless of the difficult economic parameters, sales in the hospitality industry once again delivered a positive performance. In Germany and many other countries in Western and Eastern Europe, the hospitality industry saw double-digit growth rates for the year as a whole. However, this growth dynamic weakened during the year, at times significantly. Nominal revenue consistently returned to at least the level of the last year before the pandemic. Adjusted for price rises, the hospitality industry has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels everywhere. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, in Germany real hospitality sales have only reached around 90% of that figure, for example.

The following table shows the development of GDP by METRO region.