German economic growth is slowing but activity remains robust, German Finance Minister Mr Hans Eichel said today.
He was commenting on recent weak data on the state of the EU's biggest economy.
"No-one is denying that we're seeing a slowdown," Mr Eichel said in a debate in the German parliamentary lower house.
"But economic activity is still strong and robust and at an extraordinarily high level."
A spate of recent economic reports, including gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment and manufacturing orders data, have suggested Germany is being hit harder than expected by the global economic downturn.
"But there is no reason to be overly pessimistic," Mr Eichel insisted.
Economic activity was still much higher than it had been a year ago and "the outlook remains favourable".
Mr Eichel held to the government's forecast the German economy would grow by 2.7-to-2.8 per cent this year, even if the latest data suggested that growth was now more likely to come out "at the lower end of this range."
AFP