Development of the economic environment and impact on our business activities and key performance indicators

The macroeconomic challenges currently facing society, politics, and business are multi-faceted. The global economy continues to be beset by the challenges of relatively high interest rates and dampened growth prospects. Tougher financing conditions, weak trade growth, and diminished business and consumer confidence are negatively impacting the economic outlook. Growing geopolitical tensions are further contributing to increased uncertainty about the economic outlook.

The impact on Deutsche Telekom’s business activities and performance indicators in the reporting year stems primarily from higher energy, producer, and consumer prices, construction costs, and interest rates compared with the 2022 financial year.

We are aware that, in view of the current developments, it is only possible to extrapolate past experience to the future to a limited extent. We continue to address these challenges and consider them in our business decisions in the course of developing measures to mitigate the risks. For instance, interest rate risks are countered by reducing the variable-interest debt portfolio. With respect to energy supply, Deutsche Telekom’s national companies pursue different procurement strategies, e.g., by concluding power purchase agreements, to balance long-term supply reliability and appropriate prices.

For further information on the economic situation overall, please refer to the section “The economic environment.” For more information on global economic developments and the associated business risks, please refer to the section “Risk and opportunity management.”