Leasing: Recovery of the business climate but still no revival of investment activity

According to the latest results of the Ifo Leasing Survey, the signs of recovery are growing. The business climate already brightened in the third quarter of 2003 for the third time in succession, with a clear improvement in the assessments of the business expectations but only a slight bettering of the current situation. The survey revealed that 37% of the participants expect business to improve, 62% see no change, and only 1% is pessimistic about future business. Employment grew in the second and third quarters of 2003, but the expectations show that no sustainable improvement is in sight. The responses indicate that employment grew in the course of the third quarter by 1½%.