The German government's net borrowing amounted to 115.4 billion euros ($124.48 billion) in 2022, finance ministry sources said on Thursday, as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine led to a rise in debt, Reuters reported. Last year, government borrowing was at its third-highest level in the history of Germany, following a record figure of 215.4 billion euros in 2021 and 130.5 billion in 2020, according to the sources. The German government had envisaged net borrowing of 138.9 billion euros in 2022.

More than half Germany's companies are struggling to fill vacancies due to a lack of skilled workers, the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said on Thursday, in the latest sign of growth headwinds belabouring Europe's largest economy, Reuters reported. The proportion of companies facing difficulties hiring was at its highest ever level, the DIHK found in its survey of 22,000 companies, with 53% reporting shortages.

German landlord Adler Group SA is preparing to overhaul its debt in the UK after getting support from a “sufficient majority” of its creditors for a deal, Bloomberg News reported. The company said it created a new English subsidiary — called AGPS BondCo Plc — as a principal debtor of all its bonds, in a move that will allow it to file a restructuring plan in England, according to a statement. Adler has been negotiating for months with its creditors after it was targeted by a short seller and hit by a slowdown in German property transactions.

German neobank Ruuky has filed for insolvency after failing to raise fresh funds, FinExtra.com reported. Launched three years ago under the brand name Pockid, the firm pivoted a year later under the new name Ruuky, offering an interactive banking app, current account and debit card for European teenagers. While the business claims to have amassed a loyal customer base, counting 250,000 app registrations, it has fallen victim to an ongoing drought in VC funding. The startup had previously raised €4 million from Cavalry Venture and Vorwerk Ventures at a valuation of €16 million.

The chief executive of German utility Uniper SE plans to resign this year after the company, hit hard by Russia’s decision to halt most of its natural-gas exports to Europe, was nationalized by the government, the Wall Street Journal reported. Klaus-Dieter Maubach, who was appointed to the position in 2021, will exercise a special right of termination due to the change of ownership, the company said Tuesday. Uniper’s Chief Operating Officer David Bryson will also depart, using the same right.

German exports unexpectedly fell in November as high inflation and market uncertainty continue to weigh on Europe's largest economy despite fading supply chain problems, Reuters reported. Exports fell by 0.3% on the month, data from the federal statistics office showed on Thursday. November's drop comes after October's figures were revised up, to growth of 0.8% from an initially reported 0.6% fall. Imports also posted a bigger-than-expected drop of 3.3% in November, compared with consensus for a 0.5% decline.

Germany supports the World Bank modifying its country-based business model and is in favour of the Bank setting incentives for issues like climate protection, the German Development Ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reported. On Monday, Reuters reported that the World Bank was seeking to vastly expand its lending capacity to address climate change and other global crises and will negotiate with shareholders ahead of April meetings on proposals that include a capital increase and new lending tools.

German inflation slowed more than anticipated in December after the government paid some households’ gas bills for the month, offering a temporary respite in the country’s cost-of-living crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer-price growth at 9.6% was the weakest since August. Economists anticipated 10.2%, according to the median of 20 forecasts. The decline to single digits in the main rate masks an increase in food costs across Germany at the end of 2022, aggravating a squeeze on the poorest families and stoking the risk of a wage-price spiral.

German unemployment fell in December, Labour Office figures showed on Tuesday, with the labour market overall being only moderately affected by the war in Ukraine last year, Reuters reported. The Federal Labour Office said the number of people out of work decreased by 13,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.52 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected that figure to rise by 15,000. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained stable at 5.5%.