Germany fell into recession in the first quarter of the year, according to official figures published this morning. The Federal Statistics Office said GDP fell 0.2pc in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of 2002 following a decline of 0.03pc in the last three months of 2002.
The decline in the first quarter means that Germany is now technically in recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. It is the second time in two years that the eurozone's largest economy has slipped into recession. Economists had forecast a 0.2pc quarter-on-quarter rise and the statistics office blamed the slump on a large increase in imports. "The decline in the economic performance in the first quarter of 2003 on the previous quarter was mainly attributable to the fact that the increase in imports was by far larger than that in exports" which resulted in negative growth contribution from the trade balance, it said. //www.fxcentre.com