business sentiment in germany fell in may for the first time in seven months hampered by bleaker expectations among companies especially in the countrys key manufacturing sector the ifo businessclimate index dipped to 917 in may from 934 in april according to data from the ifo institute published monday it fell behind expectations of 930 according to economists polled by the wall street journal aprils measure was the highest since february 2022 ahead of russias invasion of ukraine the fall in confidence was driven by significantly more pessimistic expectations ifo said with managers less satisfied with their current situation and companies skeptical about the upcoming summer ifo said sentiment in the german economy has suffered a setback clemens fuest president of the ifo institute said the index assessing the expectations for the next six months tumbled to 886 in may from 917 in april and the indicator gauging current business conditions ticked down to 948 from 951 the survey said business climate in the manufacturing sector was particularly worse in may compared with the month before with expectations deteriorating by the steepest measure since march 2022 ifo said the construction and trade sectors also saw the business climate index decline while for the services sector which has done better in recent months it was virtually unchanged the survey said the ifo index is based on a poll of about 9000 companies in manufacturing services trade and construction