By Klaus Lauer and Maria Martinez BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - German small and medium-sized enterprises are rapidly losing confidence in the government's ability to restore economic growth, with only
Germany's Mittelstand Questions Economic Revival Plans
By Klaus Lauer and Maria Martinez
BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - German small and medium-sized enterprises are rapidly losing confidence in the government's ability to restore economic growth, with only 39% still expecting a turnaround compared to 62% in spring, a DZ Bank survey showed on Monday.
The survey of more than 1,000 managing directors and decision-makers from the Mittelstand sector revealed disillusionment across key policy areas including energy prices, taxes and bureaucracy.
Confidence in infrastructure improvements fell particularly sharply, dropping to 43% from 58% in spring.
Germany's parliament approved in March plans for a massive multi-year spending surge, including 500 billion euros ($587.40 billion) for infrastructure and plans to largely remove defence investment from the rules that cap borrowing.
Some 44% of respondents expect the government's fiscal programmes for infrastructure and defence to fizzle out, according to the survey.
"After the new government initially started with positive momentum and a certain amount of confidence on the part of entrepreneurs, disillusionment is spreading," said Stefan Beismann, a member of DZ Bank's board of directors.
The survey showed clear differences by company size. Only 35% of the smallest firms with turnover below 5 million euros consider a return to growth realistic, compared to 46% of larger companies with turnover above 50 million euros.
($1 = 0.8512 euros)
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, writing by Maria MartinezEditing by Ludwig Burger)
