German trade body sees record exports in 2015 despite China, VW
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's BGA wholesalers and exporters body raised its forecast for export growth for this year, saying demand from Europe and the United States would offset weaker emerging markets and any negative impact from Volkswagen's emissions scandal.
The BGA said on Tuesday it expects exports to rise by up to 6 percent and imports by 4 percent. It also said it saw 4.5 percent export growth for next year.
"Both exports and imports will hit new records," said the BGA in a statement. Growth would continue thanks to robust demand from Europe and the United States, which is expected to more than compensate for a slowdown in China.
"There will be no long-term damage to the good reputation of German products through the VW scandal," said the BGA, adding German industry was more than just one big car company and that many small firms, many family-owned, were not affected.
On Monday, the Ifo sentiment index for October also pointed to resilience among German businesses, dipping just 0.3 points to a better-than-expected 108.2.
(Reporting by Rene Wagner and Madeline Chambers; Editing by Noah Barkin and John Stonestreet)
