Germany slumped into a recession during the third quarter of 2008, official data released Thursday showed, amid signs that a global economic downturn was taking hold, according to dpa. Europe's biggest economy shrank by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, after it contracted 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of June, the Federal Statistics Office said. As a result, Germany will fulfil the technical definition of recession, after clocking up two consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product (GDP). The third quarter decline was more than analysts expected. Last week, Germany's Economics Ministry said the nation's factory orders plummeted in September by a dramatic 8 per cent to record their biggest drop since records began about 17 years ago, while industrial production sank 3.6 per cent in September. German exports posted a modest month-on-month rise of 0.7 per cent in September as a weaker euro helped to boost foreign orders for the world's leading export nation. A key sentiment indicator released this week showed German investor confidence rebounding from record lows to post a surprise increase in November amid government and central bank moves to shore up the economic outlook. Drawn up by the Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research, the ZEW index rose to minus 53.5, rebounding from minus 63 in October.
