German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck warned on Tuesday that German economy could shrink by up to one percent next year.
That would be the biggest economic contraction since 1945 for Europe's biggest economy.
"The information I have available amounts to a corridor from around 0.2 percent (growth) to minus 1.0 percent," Steinbrueck told Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, during a debate on next year's budget.
Steinbrck's forecast is in line with recent assessments issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which predicted the German economy will shrink next year by 0.8 percent.
Previously, the German government slashed its official forecast for 2009 growth to 0.2 percent in mid-October.
Earlier on Tuesday, the German Federal Statistics Office said German gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter this year, in line with a preliminary estimate published earlier in November.
The OECD predicted that the Eurozone is expected to contract by0.6 percent next year, but it forecasted 1.2 percent growth for both Germany and the Eurozone in 2010.
Source:Xinhua
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