Economic forecast: Germany to grow by 1.5 percent

[April 20, 2010]  BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's leading economic forecasters say Europe's biggest economy will grow by 1.5 percent this year, followed by 1.4 in 2011.

Five leading think tanks advising the German government said in their bi-annual expertise on Thursday they expect unemployment will drop slightly from an average 8.1 percent this year to 7.9 percent next year.

They said while the German recovery has slowed down during the past winter, the underlying tendency still is upward and the job market is proving "remarkably robust."

The forecasters say the worldwide output will grow by 2.9 percent in 2010 and by 2.7 percent in 2011 while prices will remain moderate.

They said they expect the U.S. economy to continue to grow, but more slowly than in the second half of 2009.

[Associated Press]

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