German exporters lose market share as competitiveness slips, Bundesbank says
According to the Bundesbank's monthly report, more than three-quarters of Germany's export market share losses between 2021 and 2023 resulted from worsening supply-side conditions that left domestic exporters less competitive internationally.
The report found that the decline was widespread across sectors and comparatively severe by international standards, signalling deep-rooted structural challenges for Europe's largest economy.
Industries such as mechanical engineering, electrical equipment and energy-intensive sectors like chemicals were among the hardest hit, according to the report.
The study also pointed to the impact of rising energy prices and persistent supply chain disruptions, which weighed heavily on German exporters during the 2021-to-2023 period covered by the report.
The report called for urgent reforms to improve Germany's business climate, including measures to boost incentives to work, reduce barriers for skilled migrants, cut red tape and enhance tax breaks for private investment.
The findings come after the German government unveiled a series of measures aimed at boosting investment and innovation, but analysts warn that more comprehensive reforms may be necessary to restore the country's competitive edge on the world stage.
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BBC News
23 minutes ago
- BBC News
New AI voice tool trained to copy British regional accents
A new AI voice-cloning tool from a British firm claims to be able to reproduce a range of UK accents more accurately than some of its US and Chinese much of the data traditionally used to train AI products with voices comes from North American or southern English speaking sources, many artificial voices tend to sound combat this, the company Synthesia spent a year compiling its own database of UK voices with regional accents, through recording people in studios and gathering online used those to train a product called Express-Voice, which can clone a real person's voice or generate a synthetic can be used in content such as training videos, sales support and company said its customers wanted more accurate regional representations."If you're the CEO of a company, or if you're just a regular person, when you have your likeness, you want your accent to be preserved," said Synthesia Head of Research Youssef Alami added French-speaking customers had also commented that synthetic French voices tended to sound French-Canadian rather than originating from France."This is just because the companies building these models tend to be North American companies, and they tend to have datasets that are biased towards the demographics that they're in," he hardest accents to mimic are the least common, Mr Mejjati said, because there is less recorded material available to train an AI are also reports that voice-prompted AI products, such as smart speakers, are more likely to struggle to understand a range of year, internal documents from West Midlands Police revealed worries about whether voice recognition systems would understand Brummie the US-based start-up Sanas is taking the opposite approach, developing tools for deployment in call centres which "neutralise" the accents of Indian and Filipino staff, as reported by Bloomberg in March. The firm says it aims to reduce "accent discrimination" experienced by workers when callers fail to understand them. Endangered languages and dialects There is concern that languages and dialects are being lost in the digital era."Among the over seven thousand languages that still exist today, almost half are endangered according to UNESCO; about a third have some online presence; less than 2 percent are supported by Google Translate; and according to OpenAI's own testing, only fifteen, or 0.2 percent are supported by GPT-4 [an OpenAI model] above an 80 percent accuracy," writes Karen Hao in the book Empire of AI."Language models are homogenising speech," agrees AI expert Henry Ajder, who advises governments and tech firms, including the better these products become, the more effective they will also be in the hands of product will not be free when it is released in the coming weeks, and will have guardrails around hate speech and explicit there are already many free, open-source voice-cloning tools which are easily accessible and less the beginning of July, messages generated by an AI-cloned voice impersonating US Secretary of State Marco Rubio were reported to have been sent to ministers."The open source landscape for voice has evolved so rapidly over the last nine to 12 months," Mr Ajder adds."And that, from a safety perspective, is a real concern." Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Hot weather lifts UK spending as fans and sports gear add to sales
Retail sales in the UK recovered in June as hot weather drove spending on electric fans, sports and leisure equipment, but households remained under pressure from high living costs. The snapshot from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed total sales grew by 3.1% year on year in June, after a sharp drop in May, as record-breaking temperatures and promotional offers encouraged consumers to spend. Official figures showed UK retail sales collapsed by 2.7% in May, the sharpest monthly decline in almost two years, in a 'dismal' month for supermarkets as the economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1%. However, the BRC said June's high temperatures helped to 'heat up' consumer spending. The total value of food sales rose by 4.1% year on year, although this partly reflected fast-rising food prices pushing up the cost of a supermarket shopping basket. Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, said: 'The soaring temperatures increased sales of electric fans while sports and leisure equipment was boosted by the weather and the start of Wimbledon. 'Food sales remained strong, though this was in part driven by food inflation, which has risen steadily over the course of the year.' Households have come under pressure from lingering high inflation, adding to already elevated living costs, after tax rises and increases in bills. Consumer confidence has also been hit by uncertainty over sluggish growth, a cooling UK jobs market and Donald Trump's trade wars. Separate figures from Barclays showed consumer card spending – which takes into account broader spending on hospitality and leisure alongside retail – fell 0.1% year on year in June. Highlighting evidence of consumer caution, it said essential spending – including food and fuel – fell 2.1%. However, the bank, which processes almost 40% of UK credit and debit card transactions, said there were signs of rising consumer confidence and willingness to spend on experiences. The onset of summer festivals, weddings and sporting events contributed to a marginal 0.8% increase in non-essential spending, led by the strong performance of entertainment and health and beauty. Hospitality and leisure spending grew 2.1%, helped by live shows from Beyoncé and Pitbull, and huge outdoor concerts in Hyde Park. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Spending on furniture rose sharply, reflecting new homeowners furnishing their properties after a rush to complete purchases before the expiry of a temporary cut in stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland at the end of March. A survey of 2,000 adults by Barclays showed confidence in household finances improved by six percentage points to 73% – a four-month high. Jack Meaning, the chief UK economist at Barclays, said: 'The economy has cooled throughout through [the second quarter], but our data does show pockets of strength. 'However, with global and domestic uncertainty, and temporarily heightened inflation likely to continue, consumers are remaining cautious and maintaining savings buffers. 'We expect this to lead to limited GDP growth for the remainder of this year, before falling interest rates and a stronger sense of certainty drive a return to growth next year.'
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Retail spending heats up in June due to warm weather
UK retailers saw sales lift higher in June as warmer weather helped drive more shoppers onto the high street, according to new figures. Fresh data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed shopping activity swung higher for the month as sales of fans and sportswear rose sharply due to the recent hot spell and sporting events such as Wimbledon. The monthly BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor revealed that total UK retail sales increased by 3.1% in June year-on-year, compared with a 0.2% in the same month a year earlier. This was also particularly buoyed by an increase in food sales, which grew by 4.1% for the month on the back of accelerating price inflation. Recent figures from the trade group showed that food inflation increased to 3.7% in June, while fresh food was 3.2% more expensive than a year ago. The BRC found that non-food sales increased by 2.2% in June, with similar rates of growth across online and in stores. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: 'Retail sales heated up in June, with both food and non-food performing well. 'The soaring temperatures increased sales of electric fans while sports and leisure equipment was boosted by both the weather and the start of Wimbledon. 'Food sales remained strong, though this was in part driven by food inflation, which has risen steadily over the course of the year.' Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer, retail and leisure at KPMG, said: 'Home appliances and homeware purchases helped retail sales to grow in June, as new homebuyers and those having a refresh in their current home took advantage of summer promotions both in-store and online.' Nevertheless, similar spending data from Barclays painted a slightly different picture, pointing towards a marginal dip in monthly spending. It reported that consumer card spending was 0.1% lower in June, as essential spending dropped for the month. Barclays said essential spending was down 2.1% for the month, according to its card data, despite the improvement in weather. It, however, highlighted that sporting events and festivals helped drive an uptick of non-essential spending, with entertainment, hotels and travel spending all higher. The figures also showed that furniture retailers saw a strong month, with an 8.2% increase in sales. The overall dip came despite surveyed customers indicating that their confidence about their finances is at its strongest level for four months. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: 'Despite the warm weather, which usually boosts non-essential sectors such as retail and hospitality, consumers spent cautiously in June, prioritising value as they navigate economic uncertainty. 'Encouragingly, entertainment, beauty and furniture stores bucked the trend, while confidence in household finances improved, showing consumers' willingness to spend on the things that matter most to them.'
