Bundesbank Raises German Economic Growth Forecast

Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has raised its forecasts for economic growth in the country.

It announced it had raised its forecast for growth this year from 0.3% to 0.5% and for 2014 from 1.5% to 1.7%.

“The German economy is in good shape: the unemployment rate is low, employment is rising, and wage growth is returning to normal,” said Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann.

The Bundesbank makes forecasts twice a year – the last set was in June.

Mr Weidmann added that low interest rates had been encouraging house building and private consumption in Germany, although trade had been weakening.

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate from 0.5% to 0.25% a month ago, and kept it at that level at Thursday’s meeting.

ECB president Mario Draghi said the eurozone’s economy remained “subdued”.

The Bundesbank did not make a forecast for 2015 in June, but is now predicting growth of 2.0% for that year.

via BBC News – Germany raises growth forecasts

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza