Germany has slid into a recession this winter, analysts said after new data revealed that the trading environment worsened this month, reversing improvements over the past quarter.

A downturn in manufacturing activity, driven by the prospect of a fiscal crisis denying the sector subsidies, dragged confidence levels lower in December.

The Ifo’s business conditions index tumbled to 86.4 from 87.2, offsetting most of the strengthening in the survey registered over the past three months. The manufacturing reading dropped to minus 17.2, its worst reading since June 2020.

The downbeat data “all but confirms that the [eurozone’s] largest economy entered a technical recession at the end of the year”, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics, the consultancy, said.

Germany’s Dax 40 index, which tracks the stock prices of