German economist and stock market expert Jens Ehrhart confirmed that Berlin will incur a trillion euros in costs to replace Russian pipeline gas with an expansion of liquefied natural gas, which requires the construction of special infrastructure for this.
He said in an interview published by the Handelsblatt newspaper: “My point of view in the political struggle with Russia is that in Germany and Europe we are doing ourselves a lot of harm by imposing sanctions against Russia.”
“Lacking innovation, Germany is heavily dependent on traditional industries such as the automotive industry,” he added.
He continued: “In the next four years, we will not be able to replace cheap Russian gas at all, and expanding the capacity to receive liquefied gas will cost us, according to some estimates, one trillion euros.”
He pointed out that “the so-called green revolution will lead to an increase in the cost of production … and industry in Germany will become more expensive and therefore less competitive.”
He expressed confidence that “German exports, which have increased by 50% since the introduction of the euro, will now start to decline, and this will hurt our high share of exports more than other countries … We in Germany will go through very difficult times.”
The German expert criticized the US Federal Reserve’s measures aimed at combating inflation.
“I think the US central bank is making a big mistake right now, and it’s probably the biggest mistake since World War II,” he said.
Earhart expected a repeat of the collapse of the German Dax stock index, which fell about 12,500 points in March last year.
Source: “TASS” + “Handelsblatt”