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Frankfurt - The German economy is starting the new year in
"downright robust" form, Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said in a
newspaper interview on Tuesday.
"Our economy is downright robust, even if the
environment, both at an international and a European level, has become more
difficult," Roesler told the business daily Handelsblatt.
Wolfgang Franz, the head of the ZEW think tank and head of
the so-called group of Five Wise Men which advises the government
on economic matters, said Europe's economic powerhouse would not fall into
recession in 2012.
"I don't fear a recession, certainly not one as deep as
in 2009 when gross domestic product contracted by around 5.0%," Franz told
the Handelsblatt in a separate interview.
"Companies are faring well and are still confident.
Germany is in good shape, for the time being in any case," Franz said.
Current forecasts see German GDP expanding by 0.5% to 1.0% next year, after an anticipated 3.0% this year.
