German industry mulls how to get by without cheap Russian oil and gas

The European Commission expects only Estonia to post slower economic growth than Germany this year

“Germany is in a disastrous economic situation,” said Aline Schuiling, senior economist at ABN Amro.

Germany’s economy might again become the “sick man of Europe”, slipping back into a role from two decades ago as policies that kept factories humming turn sour.

After years of pushing exports to China and building up energy links to Russia, Europe’s largest economy faces a poisonous cocktail of risks. Its heavy reliance on manufacturing makes it more vulnerable than European peers to war-related disruptions in Russian energy supplies and bottlenecks in trade.