The German economy has been in crisis mode for almost four years. The coronavirus outbreak at the beginning of 2020 was followed by the second wave of coronavirus with renewed lockdowns in the winter of 2020/2021, the war in Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent rise in energy prices, the conflict in the Middle East since October of this year and, most recently, the budget crisis. The crises triggered significant price increases in some cases. In the 3rd quarter of this year, the price and seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) was only slightly (0.3%) above the level of the 4th quarter of 2019. Real private consumption is noticeably lower than four years ago, as a result of the loss of purchasing power of almost 20% over the past three years. However, investments in construction, equipment and other fixed assets are also still below the pre-coronavirus level. Although real exports are slightly above the pre-coronavirus level again, imports have increased more strongly, meaning that the overall contribution to growth is negative here too. Only government consumption (+5.9%), and here the extensive crisis-related expenditure, led to the increase in real GDP compared to the end of 2019.