Growth in Germany is slowing, but Europe's biggest economy still managed to scrape past a new recession in the third quarter of this year, the Economy Ministry said Wednesday.
Two days before the publication of official gross domestic product (GDP) data, the ministry said that "following the shallow contraction in the second quarter -- which was a result of special factors -- available indicators suggest that output at least stabilised in the third quarter."
German output shrank by 0.2 percent in the period from April to June. And a further contraction in the succeeding three months would put Germany in recession, which is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP.
"Economic momentum has weakened since the spring. The main cause of this is the less favourable outside economic environment," the ministry diagnosed, pointing to the crises in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria.
Nevertheless, "the most important domestic economic impulses remain intact," the report said.
"The labour market is still robust and acts a guarantee for reliable consumer spending," it said.