Germany: Economy shrinks by 0.2% this year

Follow-up - INA

The German Ministry of Economy expected, today, Wednesday, that the country's economy will shrink by 0.2% in 2024, to become the only country in the Group of Seven major industrial countries to record a contraction in output this year.

The government has cut its forecast from a previous forecast of 0.3 percent growth for this year, as the country failed to recover in the second half of the year.

Germany’s economy was already the weakest among its major eurozone peers and other G7 nations last year, with gross domestic product falling by 0.3 percent.

Ahead of the forecast, the head of the Bundesbank said the German economy was likely to see another year of contraction, with the U.S. election posing an additional risk to Europe’s growth.

The Bundesbank had forecast 0.3 percent growth in June, but said last month that GDP may have stalled or declined in the third quarter, after a slight decline in the previous three months.