According to a new study by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, bureaucracy is costing Germany up to a staggering 146 billion euros per year in lost economic output, that’s around 153 billion dollars and more than twice as high as a previous assessment from the German National Regulatory Control Council, which estimated the direct costs of bureaucracy at 65 billion euros per year. The culprits are lengthy approval processes for new businesses, and Germany’s notoriously slow adoption of digital solutions. Executives have long voiced frustration over the red tape in Europe’s largest economy, which has struggled to keep pace with its eurozone neighbors since 2018. Streamlining these processes could unlock massive economic potential, but until that happens, it’s an issue worth watching.