German and French economies contract sharply

German and French economies contract sharply BERLIN/PARIS – Europe’s two largest economies, Germany and France, both shrank markedly in the last three months of 2012, suggesting the eurozone has slipped deeper into recession and throwing a first quarter recovery for the bloc into doubt.
The German economy contracted by 0.6 per cent on the quarter, official data showed on Thursday, its worst performance since the global financial crisis was raging in 2009. France’s 0.3 per cent fall was also slightly worse than expectations.
Worryingly for Berlin, it was export performance – the motor of its economy – that did most of the damage.
“In the final quarter of 2012 exports of goods declined significantly more than imports of goods,” the German statistics office said in a statement.
Back revisions to the French figures showed its output fell by 0.1 per cent in each of the first and second quarters of 2012, meaning the country has already experienced one bout of recession in the past 12 months.

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