Germany Would Face GDP Decline in 2017 If Britain Leaves EU

The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union would dampen German economic growth in 2017, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) said in a press release on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the press release, the direct effect of the so-called Brexit could reduce growth of German exports by 1 percentage point, or almost 15 billion euros (almost $17 billion), reducing the country's GDP growth by 0.5 percentage points in 2017 and by 0.1 percentage points this year.

DIW warned that Brexit would mostly affect export-oriented automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as mechanical engineering, as the United Kingdom is the third largest trading partner for Germany.

According to the press release, Germany exports goods and services worth about 120 billion euros to the United Kingdom, or about 8 percent of all German exports.

UK nationals are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership, after Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the 27 EU member states agreed in February to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc.

In April, the president of the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Clemens Fuest, warned that Germany's economy would suffer the most if Brits voted against staying in the European Union in the June referendum. According to the researcher, it would fall on Germany to cover the largest part of the UK contribution to the EU budget in the event of Brexit.