Germany’s prospects remain strong

Swiss & Global Asset Management has spoken strongly in favour of the German economy predicting it will grow by more than 3% for the second year running.

This robust recovery from the global financial crises will be driven by strong exports, a stable financial sector and a lower budget deficit, says fund manager Oliver Maslowski, who backs up his conviction by adding, “Its deficit compares favourably to other European nations. For example, in 2010 Germany had a budget deficit of just 3.3% of GDP, while the UK figure stood at 10.4%.”

Maslowski, who heads up Luxembourg-domiciled JB German Value Fund, believes that the proposed Greek bailout should restore investors’ confidence regarding the Eurozone and shows that default is not an option. He reasons that the main concern is still that the debt crisis could spread beyond Greece. “As risks have shifted from the private to the public sector, country allocation is of utmost importance for performance.”

The fund follows a value-based approach, investing primarily in German stocks the investment adviser regards as good value in terms of fundamental valuation criteria, such as price-to-book, price-earnings, price-cash flo and price-sales.
www.swissglobal-am.com