Twenty-one percent of self-employed individuals in Germany anticipate increasing their investments this year, according to a recent survey by the Ifo Institute. In contrast, in November 2025, only eighteen point two percent of respondents expected to increase their investments in 2026. According to Ifo expert Katrin Demmelhuber, “While the willingness to invest has slightly improved, self-employed individuals require reliable and predictable framework conditions for a sustainable upswing”.
Just under half of sole self-employed individuals and small businesses (47.1 percent) plan to maintain their investment levels this year relative to the previous year. Simultaneously, the proportion intending to cut their investments in 2026 has dropped from 36.3 percent to 31.9 percent. Demmelhuber noted that, “Despite the slight improvement, the investment plans of the self-employed lag behind the rest of the German economy, where currently 28.4 percent of companies plan to expand their investment activities”.
While the willingness to invest has slightly improved, the business climate shows a different picture. Unlike the investment expectations, the business expectations for the self-employed have deteriorated sharply in March. These expectations fell from minus 15.1 to minus 26.0 points. This resulted in a worsening of the business climate, as the “Jimdo-Ifo Business Climate Index” dropped from minus 16.5 points in February to minus 20.8 points in March. However, dissatisfaction with current business activities saw a slight recovery. At the same time, uncertainty among sole self-employed individuals and small businesses rose, with 36.4 percent currently reporting difficulty assessing their future business development, up from 32 percent the previous month.
A crucial prerequisite for planned investments to actually materialize is financing. Credit access is a key factor here: Compared to the previous quarter, the proportion of self-employed individuals reporting difficulties decreased significantly, moving from 47.6 percent to 34.6 percent. This trend was also seen in the broader economy, where the rate fell from 35.2 percent to 31.7 percent. Furthermore, the proportion of respondents who are even conducting credit negotiations remains low among the self-employed at 10.5 percent, and significantly lower than in the overall economy at 26.4 percent.
