Its growth model seems kaput – but optimists point to how the economy confounded critics before
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Is Germany the "sick old man of Europe" again? And if so, why? Larry Elliott looks at the problems that affecting Europe's largest economy - notably it's supply-side issues - crumbling infrastructure, its lack of access to cheap Russian energy - and wonders whether it can recover.
However, some argue that such a characterization is over-dramatic: Germany is a very trade-dependent economy and when global trade slows, Germany always struggles. That said, international competitiveness has fallen and there's likely to be less demand for German goods from Asia. Combine this with weak government finances, and an aversion to debt and it might be that some of these problems are more difficult to overcome than they were previously.