Germany's economic confidence turned positive in December for the first time since May 2012 as the largest euro area economy is expected to avoid a recession, a closely watched survey of financial market experts showed Tuesday.
The Indicator of Economic Sentiment climbed sharply by 22.6 points to 6.9 for December, survey from the ZEW Centre for European Economic Research revealed. Economists had forecast the reading to improve to -11.5.
Positive development in the U.S. also contributed to the improvement, which spurred the hope that the global economy will gain momentum. "The financial market experts forecast the development of the economic activity in 2013 with pre-Christmas optimism," said ZEW President Wolfgang Franz.
Although the cooling down of the economic activity will last until the beginning of 2013, Germany will not have to face a recession, provided the crises in the Eurozone do not deepen once again, he added.
The assessment of the current economic situation in Germany remained almost unchanged in December. The corresponding indicator gained 0.3 points to 5.7.
In contrast to the findings of ZEW survey, the German economic ministry today said the activity will weaken further in the final quarter of 2012. For the coming months, leading indicators show a dim picture, but with bright spots, it said in a statement.
The German economy grew 0.2 percent in the third quarter. Citing widespread uncertainty and difficult economic situation in parts of the euro area, the Bundesbank last week slashed its 2013 growth forecast for Germany to 0.4 percent from 1.6 percent.
Economic expectations for the Eurozone rose by 10.2 points to 7.6 points, the survey showed. The indicator for the current economic situation, at the same time, came in at -79.9 points-mark, up 0.4 points from the prior month.
The European Central Bank cut its economic forecasts for the euro area last week. The central bank projects GDP contractions of 0.5 percent this year and 0.3 percent in 2013. The economy is expected to recover in 2014 with a growth of 1.2 percent.
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