German economic growth as expected ground to a halt in the second quarter of this year compared to the first and slowed sharply to 0.6 per cent in the past 12 months, official data released today showed.
The real year-on-year growth was the slowest since the first quarter of 1997, the Federal Statistics Office said.
The weakness in the second quarter was largely due to lower investment, particularly in construction, and a building-down of inventories.
The Office also said the German economy grew by one per cent in the first half of the year compared to the first six months of 2000.
The figures came as no surprise after the Bundesbank warned last week that its estimates showed the economy slowed to a virtual standstill in the April-June period after growth of 0.4 per cent in the first three months of this year.
Economists had expected the economy to contract by 0.1 per cent compared with the first quarter and growth to slow to 0.8 per cent in year-on-year comparison on calendar-adjusted basis.
The data came a day after a surprising rebound in Germany's closely-watched Ifo business climate index for July offered a glimmer of hope that the economy would escape recession and stage a stronger recovery in the final months of this year.