MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Strong rebound of the German economy: GDP 3% growth in 2010

Surprise from the high quality export geared economy

German gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by as much as 3% in 2010, as positive quarterly figures have stoked optimism in Europe's largest economy, Die Welt newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Economy Ministry officials.

Statistics released on Friday showed that the German economy had grown by 2.2% in the second quarter, much more than expected and the fastest quarterly increase since reunification in 1990.

The main reason for the higher than expected growth was strong exports which was helped by a weaker Euro.

Germany now appears to be pulling strongly away from the recession of 2009, when the economy shrank by nearly 5%.

“Even if the economy stagnated in the next three months, growth fell to zero, we could still reckon on 3% growth or more at the end of the year” an unnamed source at the Economy Ministry was quoted by the paper as saying.

The official government projection for the year remains at 1.4% growth.

The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said Friday the region's growth rate bounded ahead by a bigger-than-forecast 1% in the second quarter with Germany's economic performance helping to offset the more tepid expansion rates in other parts of Europe.