German economic confidence strengthened to the highest level since 2015, survey results from the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed Tuesday.
The economic sentiment index rose more-than-expected to 26.7 in January from 10.7 in December. This was the highest since July 2015, when the score was 29.7. Economists had forecast a reading of 15.0 for January.
The indicator for the current situation improved sharply to -9.5 in January from -19.9 a month ago. The expected level was -13.5.
The continued strong increase of the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment is mainly due to the recent settlement of the trade dispute between the USA and China, ZEW President Achim Wambach, said.
This gives rise to the hope that the trade dispute's negative effects on the German economy will be less pronounced than previously thought, he added.
The economic sentiment index for euro area climbed 14.4 points to 25.6 in January. The indicator for current situation gained 4.8 to -9.9.
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