KfW-Analyse: Jeder dritte Mittelständler verschiebt Investitionen
Nur 40 Prozent der Mittelständler haben 2025 Investitionsprojekte umgesetzt. Zugleich schieben viele Unternehmen ihre für dieses Jahr geplanten Vorhaben auf. Was bremst die Betriebe?
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany continue to struggle with investing, with only 40 percent of the 3.9 million SMEs implementing investment projects in 2025, according to an analysis by the KfW development bank. This downward trend continued into the current year, as one-third of companies (33 percent) reported postponing or implementing 2026 planned investments on a smaller scale in a September survey.
Financial opportunities often exist for funding digitalization, new equipment, and energy efficiency, but KfW Chief Economist Dirk Schumacher attributes the findings of the latest "KfW-Mittelstandspanels" to insufficient investment or postponing ventures. This issue poses a concern for Germany's economic landscape. High energy prices, extensive bureaucracy, and uncertainty about future economic conditions are the primary barriers to investment, as cited by SMEs in the September survey.
Over the past five years, business investments in Germany have decreased in nominal terms, real values, and purchasing power, with a 8.3 percent decline between 2019 and 2025.
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