Germany’s economy feared down 2% in Q4 – stats office

14 January 2009 14:31  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Germany’s economy may have shrunk by 1.5-2.0% in the fourth quarter, from the third, according to preliminary estimates released on Wednesday.

For the full 12 months of 2008 the economy was estimated to have grown 1.3% from 2007, said the country’s federal statistics office, the Statistisches Bundesamt in Wiesbaden.

This compares with annual growth rates of 2.5% in 2007 and 3.0% in 2006.

Roderich Egeler, president of the office, said in a webcast interview that the economy had started to cool down beginning in the 2008 second quarter.

Unlike in previous years, exports were no longer a growth driver for the economy last year, Egeler said.

Exports grew by 3.9% from 2007 while imports rose 5.2%, he said. This compared with 7.5% export growth and 5.0% import growth in 2007.

Egeler said he was pessimistic for the outlook in coming months but did not disclose detailed projections.

Germany’s Bundesbank recently projected that Europe’s largest economy could shrink 0.8% in 2009 while economic forecasters fear an even larger decline of 2.2%.

German chemical producers said recently they expected production to fall 1% in 2009, a forecast some commentators already said may be too optimistic.

The statistics office is due to release detailed fourth-quarter GDP estimates on 13 February and an updated full-year 2008 estimate on 25 February.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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