"Germany is holding up the rest of the euro zone"
- Nick Kounis, head of macroeconomic research at ABN Amro
Germany helped the Eurozone avoid its second recession in three years. Overall gross domestic product stagnated in the first three months of 2012, compared to the previous quarter, Eurostat data showed on Tuesday.
"Germany is holding up the rest of the euro zone," said Nick Kounis, head of macroeconomic research at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
"While it will remain the outperformer, I doubt this will happen again in the second quarter," he said, adding that for the euro area "the second quarter is likely to be negative."
"Germany is leading the bloc, but this doesn't mean we will have a strong rebound. Austerity is not going away and southern European economies are really struggling," said Mads Koefoed, a senior economist at Saxo Bank.
"We are looking at stagnation to very mild growth in the year to come."
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