German GDP grows fastest in Europe

Germany's economy rebounded last year at its fastest pace since reunification but consumer spending stayed modest, leaving analysts and other eurozone states hoping a more balanced recovery would take hold this year.

Gross domestic product grew by 3.6 per cent, preliminary data from the German Federal Statistics Office data showed yesterday, bouncing back from a 4.7 per cent slump – its steepest since the Second World War – in 2009. The figure matched the mid-range forecast in a Reuters poll of 22 economists.

The Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle talked up Germany's performance over the past 12 months saying Europe's dominant economy had grown twice as fast as the average across the region.