Economic Impact of Rising Inflation and Savings Expectations

By modeling three scenarios – driven mainly by increasing commodity prices (e.g. energy & rawmatertials), continuing high-cost savings expectations from OEMs, and opportunity costs due to lower GDP growth – we argue that German SMEs will face a three-digit billion-euro additional financial burden per year, ranging from 113 bn € in a best-case up to 228 bn € in a worst-case scenario.

The figures – which are significantly higher than expected – illustrate the cost pressure on SMEs and call for best practices in dealing with them.