German economy nears halt, French economy contracts

BERLIN/PARIS – Agence France-Presse

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The eurozone debt crisis is taking its toll on Germany, Europe's largest economy, which ground to a near halt in the third quarter of the year, official figures showed yesterday.

Germany's economy grew a mere 0.2 percent in the July to September period compared to the previous quarter, according to provisional data published by federal statistics office Destatis.

The figures were in line with expectations. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected Germany to register growth of 0.2 percent.

Destatis offered no detailed breakdown of the figures but recent data have suggested that Germany, until now largely immune from the crisis, is increasingly feeling the pinch.

The statistics office did however say that the positive drivers of the economy "came from abroad" with exports outpacing imports.

Domestically, private and public consumption appeared to have held up, as did construction, but investments were down.

The French economy, meanwhile, contracted 0.1 percent in the second quarter of this year, revised GDP data from the national INSEE statistics institute showed yesterday.

An earlier estimate had shown stagnation in the April-June period.