German central bank sees economy flat in 4th quarter

Germany’s economy is likely to remain flat in the current quarter after narrowly avoiding a recession over the summer, according to the country’s central bank. The Bundesbank wrote in its monthly report for December issued Monday that “German economic output could stagnate in the final quarter of 2019.”

Official figures released last month showed that the German economy, Europe’s biggest, grew 0.1% in the July-September period compared with the previous quarter when it contracted by 0.2%. Strong domestic spending helped spark the modest third-quarter growth.

Two consecutive quarters of declining output is considered a technical recession.

Factory orders and industrial production both declined in October, getting the fourth quarter off to a poor start.