The German economy was hit hard by the eurozone crisis in the final quarter of last year, shrinking more than at any point in nearly three years as traditionally strong exports and investment slowed, the Statistics Office said on Tuesday.
Economists expect Germany to bounce back after forecasts for weak growth in the first quarter but Europe’s largest economy will be less of a pillar of support for the rest of the currency bloc, where many of its peers are deeply in recession.
Gross domestic product shrank by 0.5% in the final three months of 2012, the worst quarterly performance since Germany fell into a recession during the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 and only the second contraction since it ended.
The parlous fourth quarter pushed overall growth for the year down to 0.7%, a sharp slowdown from the 3.0% registered in 2011 and a post-reunification record of 4.2% in 2010. The 2012 figure was a tad below a Reuters consensus forecast for growth of 0.8%.
The government is due to publish an estimate for 2013 growth on Wednesday. An official from the Economy Ministry said growth would be 0.4% this year, less than half the government’s existing forecast of 1.0%.
Economists expect Germany to bounce back after forecasts for weak growth in the first quarter but Europe’s largest economy will be less of a pillar of support for the rest of the currency bloc, where many of its peers are deeply in recession.
Gross domestic product shrank by 0.5% in the final three months of 2012, the worst quarterly performance since Germany fell into a recession during the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 and only the second contraction since it ended.
The parlous fourth quarter pushed overall growth for the year down to 0.7%, a sharp slowdown from the 3.0% registered in 2011 and a post-reunification record of 4.2% in 2010. The 2012 figure was a tad below a Reuters consensus forecast for growth of 0.8%.
The government is due to publish an estimate for 2013 growth on Wednesday. An official from the Economy Ministry said growth would be 0.4% this year, less than half the government’s existing forecast of 1.0%.
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