Data Show German Economy Stalling
The German economy expanded faster than any other Group of 7 nation last year, official data showed Wednesday, but the stress of the euro crisis and a slowing global economy appear to be already weighing on output.
Germany expanded by 3 percent last year from 2010, the Federal Statistical Office said in Wiesbaden. It noted, however, that the growth came mostly in the first half of 2011, and estimated that the economy actually contracted by about 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter from the prior three months.
Some economists now predict another contraction for Germany in the first three months of 2012, which would meet the usual definition of a recession as two consecutive quarterly declines in output.
Still, the 2011 figure was above the next-fastest growing G-7 economy, Canada, at “a little over 2 percent,” and the United States, with 2011 growth of “1.7 percent or a little more,” according to Ralph Solveen, an economist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/business/global/data-show-german-economy-stalling.html
