The truly alarming problem was the trend in exports. Whilst the German domestic economy rebounded, exports continued to decline. In every month of 1933 exports were lower than they had been in 1932 and the gap widened as the year wore on. The trend continued into 1934, with export earnings in the early summer of 1934 fully 20 per cent lower than they had been a year earlier. Without exports, Germany could not pay for its desperately needed imports, or service its foreign debts.
