Germany’s trade surplus narrowed in October to its lowest level in over half a year as exports posted meager growth in the face of weakening demand from the country’s recession-hit European partners.
Official data showed that the figures added to evidence that Europe’s largest economy will contract in the fourth quarter of the year amid a slowdown in foreign sales, long a driver of German growth. Imports rose 2.5% in October, far stronger than a 0.3% increase in exports that followed a 2.4% decline in September.
Christian Schulz of Berenberg Bank said in a research note that “The outlook may now be slowly improving with positive signals for Chinese and American growth, but the euro zone recession is likely to continue to weigh on German exports. A falling trade surplus may also weaken GDP growth in Q4 further.”
Germany has been an engine of growth throughout the three year euro crisis, but weakness elsewhere in the EU, where it sells roughly 60 percent of its exported goods, is starting to bite. Last week, Germany’s central bank slashed its growth outlook for next year, forecasting a meager expansion of 0.4%
Source:
http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/Eurozone_winds_hit_exports_of_Germany/295021.html
