A week after the World Cup ended, retailers in the host nation Germany were rubbing their hands with glee after ringing up an additional 2 billion euros (US$2.5 billion) in revenue during the month-long mega-event.
But observers, including the mighty Bundesbank, warned that the current party mood in Germany could quickly fizzle out if the government fails to press ahead with much-needed structural reforms.
On many counts, the football tournament was an overwhelming success for the host nation, even if the German national team only finished third.
The precision-engineering of the organization was lavishly praised, as was the peaceful, laid-back hospitality.
And in economic terms, the cash tills were ringing in German shops throughout the event.
The HDE retail industry federation estimated that windfall revenues of 2 billion euros between June 9 and July 9 would enable the sector to close the year with a modest plus, with main beneficiaries being the consumer electronics and drinks sectors.
There were an extra 1.5 billion euros in revenue last month and a further 500 million euros this month, HDE chief Hermann Franzen said.
Nevertheless, looking at the rest of the year, shopkeepers were not quite so optimistic, it seemed.
For this year as a whole, retail sales were expected to rise by just 0.5 to 1 percent, and then only thanks to the World Cup and big-ticket purchases ahead of the planned rise in value-added tax (VAT) at the beginning of next year, HDE said.
The Bundesbank was also sceptical about how long the so-called World Cup effect would last.
"A great World Cup by itself can't keep the entire economy going," Bundesbank chief Axe Weber said.
"The current feel-good sentiment is a short-term phenomenon. It won't be long before we'll be talking about the same problems that we've been trying to solve for years," he said.
The head of distribution giant Metro, Hans-Joachim Koerber, agreed.
"It's positive that people in Germany know again what a positive mood feels like. But the World Cup is over, while the problems remain," Koerber said.
Bundesbank chief Weber warned that the government's plans to raise VAT by 3 percentage points to 19 percent with effect from Jan. 1 would knock down overall economic growth.
"We know from experience that such tax increases have a very strong braking effect on private consumption," Weber said.
Coupled with high oil prices, which push up energy and fuel prices, the VAT hike will eat into disposable income and push up headline inflation, he said.
An economist at Essen-based think-tank RWE, Roland Doehrn, also pointed out that "people who have bought a flat-screen TV or tickets to a match, are going to have to scrimp and save elsewhere."
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