Wie man Zahlen manipuliert

Die Exporte in den Iran seien, ebenso wie die Hermesbürgschaften für Geschäfte mit den Mullahs - so brüsten sich die Deutschen seit einigen Wochen -, "stark zurückgegangen". Jetzt wird die Frage aufgeworfen, ob da nicht jemand an den Zahlen herumgespielt hat.

But journalist John Rosenthal, who has written extensively on Germany for the World Politics Review Web publication, questions the accuracy of the statistics provided by the German Federal Trade Agency asserting that the exports declined by 15 percent to roughly €3.5 billion for the first 10 months of 2007.

The "figures are said to be based on statistical data running only through October. This makes the claim for a 15% percent drop in exports appear highly dubious... If the reported volume of German exports for the first 10 months of 2007 is extrapolated over a full year, the resulting figure (€4.2b.) would in fact represent an increase of Germany exports as compared to 2006," Rosenthal wrote