By Michael Nienaber and Rene Wagner
BERLIN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel has steered Germany through many crises over the past 16 years, but she has also left behind a mixed legacy and failed to tackle some deep structural problems in Europe's largest economy.
Despite a "golden decade" of uninterrupted growth and budget surpluses, most economists agree Germany has neglected its public infrastructure and invested too little in digitisation.
The Ifo institute forecasts the economy will grow by a stellar 5.1% in 2022, the strongest rate since the economic boom of the early 1990s following Germany's reunification.
The unusually strong growth outlook is mainly due to the recovery and catch-up effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. But under the shiny surface, things look less bright.
If Germany wants to avoid falling further behind over the next few years, the coming coalition government must tackle these three challenges:
DIGITISATION
Under Merkel's watch, Germany has fallen further behind in terms of digitisation. That was the finding of a survey by the Berlin-based European Center for Digital Competitiveness published in September, shortly before the election.
Germany ranked 18 out of the Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20), with only Japan and India doing worse.
The government's goal of offering fast internet through a nationwide network is a long way off. There are still too few fibre optic cables, especially in rural areas.
Germany is also lagging in the expansion of 5G mobile communications, slowing down small and medium-sized businesses in certain regions.
Finally, the country is short of IT specialists. According to the industry association Bitkom, 86,000 positions for IT experts are currently vacant. Seven out of ten companies complain about a lack of IT specialists, and 60 percent expect the situation to worsen in the coming years, Bitkom said.
CHIP SHORTAGES
Germany's mighty car industry is struggling to ramp up production following the coronavirus crisis due to a lack of semiconductors and other components.
As automakers and suppliers rely almost exclusively on chips from only a few manufacturers in Asia and the United States, supply chain disruptions have exposed an Achilles heel in Deutschland AG's business model.
While Germany has boomed on the back of globalisation, the worldwide web of supply chains that turbo-charged its economy is now proving to be a critical weakness.
A record 77.4% of industrial companies reported difficulties procuring intermediates and raw materials in September, a survey by the Ifo institute showed. Among car companies, that figure jumped to an unprecedented 97%.