BERLIN (MNI) – The Japanese catastrophe will not lead to a global
economic shock, German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle ventured in a
pre-release of an interview to be published on Monday.
“Still, we will discuss intensively in the G20 group the fallout
from the Japanese catastrophe,” Bruederle told German business weekly
Wirtschaftswoche.
The minister noted that trade between German and Japan is
insignificant. On Thursday, the president of the Ifo economic research
institute, Hans-Werner Sinn, said that Germany would not be affected
markedly by the events in Japan.
Sinn argued that Japan is more a competitor to Germany on export
markets than a trade partner. “If your competitor has problems, you
usually do not say that you will get problems,” he remarked.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$G$$$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$,M$I$$$,M$J$$$]
