German Economy Shrinks for First Time Since 2013
This article is for subscribers only.
Germany’s economy contracted more than economists forecast last quarter and France stagnated, adding to pressure on the euro area as the Ukraine crisis and slowing inflation threaten to derail the region’s recovery.
Gross domestic product in the Germany, the currency bloc’s largest economy, fell 0.2 percent from the first quarter, when it rose a revised 0.7 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists forecast a contraction of 0.1 percent, according to the median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Data earlier today showed the French economy, the region’s second-largest, posted zero growth in the period, compared with a median estimate for a 0.1 percent gain.