BERLIN, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Germany's manufacturing sector experienced a fall in new orders in December, official figures by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed on Wednesday.
The price-adjusted stock of manufacturing orders fell by 1.6 percent in December 2018 compared to the previous month. Compared to the same month last year, incoming orders fell by seven percent.
"The economic downturn will probably keep us busy for some time to come," commented Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank.
Domestic orders declined by 0.6 percent compared with the previous month, while foreign orders declined by 2.3 percent.
Within the euro zone, incoming orders rose by 3.2 percent. By contrast, incoming orders from abroad fell by 5.5 percent compared with the previous month, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
"Incoming orders show that the growth forecasts will probably have to be revised further downwards", added Gitzel.
The signs of economic problems are increasing. At the end of January, the German Business Climate Index by ifo fell to its lowest level since February 2016. "The German economy is experiencing a downturn," said ifo president Clemens Fuest.
Shortly afterwards, the German government lowered its official national gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2019 to 1 percent.
German economic minister Peter Altmaier said that the "headwind" that the German economy was currently experiencing would be primarily caused by the external economic field regarding Brexit, trade conflicts and the international tax policy environment.
