Munich - German business confidence slipped more sharply than expected this month, with the Ifo institute of Munich saying Wednesday its index falling to 92.9 points, from 94.8 in August.

It was the fourth straight month in which the index fell.

Economists who watch the index closely had on average predicted the September reading would only fall to 94.1.

Ifo's separate index of business expectations declined marginally from 87.0 in August to 86.5 in September, whereas the assessment of the current position slumped from
103.2 to 99.8.

The index sums up a monthly survey of 7,000 executives, economists and other business leaders.

In Munich, Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn noted that similar indexes of confidence in France and Italy had also fallen much more sharply in September than expected.  (dpa)