- Marco Valli, chief euro-area economist at UniCredit Global Research
Exports from Europe's largest economy increased in March, adding to signs German economy is starting to recover from a contraction at the end of the last year. According to the Federal Statistics Office, the nation's shipments, adjusted for working days and seasonal changes, advanced 0.5% from February, when they fell 1.2%. Germany's trade surplus rose to 18.8 billion euros ($24.5 billion), up from 16.8 billion euros in February, while the surplus in the current account, which is a measure of all trade including services, climbed to 20.2 billion euros compared with 18 billion euros. Earlier this month the European Commission lowered its forecast for German economy even despite some improvement in fundamentals. The gross domestic product is now expected to shrink 0.4% this year after a 0.6% contraction in 2012.
"The latest data from Germany are pretty strong," said Marco Valli, chief euro-area economist at UniCredit Global Research in Milan.
Johannes Gareis, an analyst with Natixis said: "on the back of decreasing imports and slightly rising exports, we expect external trade to contribute positively to (German) GDP growth. Nevertheless the outlook for Germany's exports for the rest of the year remains subdued against the backdrop of the eurozone debt crisis and weak world demand."
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