German Economic Sentiment Experienced Worst Decline In 13 years

German economic sentiment has deteriorated in June, according to the ZEW economic indicator which fell 27.7 points to minus 16.9, its strongest decline since October 1998.

The report, published Tuesday by the ZEW Centre for European Economic Research, found that the negative sentiment for the German economy derived from the continued deterioration of the Spanish banking sector and insecurity over the outcome of the Greek election for much of the period of the survey.

The financial market experts' expectations are a strong warning against a too optimistic assessment of Germany's economic perspectives in the remainder of the year, ZEW president Professor Wolfgang Franz said. The risks of a pronounced decline in economic activity in countries with close trade ties to Germany are very clear. In addition, there is a situation in the Eurozone which continues to be precarious.