BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The German Bundesbank has lowered its growth forecast for the German economy to 0.6 percent on Friday, compared with the 1.6 percent growth rate assumed by Bundesbank's economists in December 2018.
After a period of economic boom, "the German economy is currently experiencing a marked cool down", according to the Bundesbank.
Even if the domestic economic upswing in Germany would be still "intact", the Bundesbank stated that the "downturn in industry" was mainly suffering from sluggish exports.
"Once foreign demand picks up, German economic growth will be more broadly based again," Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said.
Nevertheless, according to the Bundesbank's forecast, German exports will gradually recover starting at the second half of this year and increase more strongly again. "Once this happens, industrial output should also rise again," the Bundesbank statement read.
Referring to the disparity of a strong domestic economy and weak export business, "these developments should see Germany's economic dichotomy become less pronounced," Weidmann commented.
For the year 2020, the German Bundesbank is expecting German GDP to grow at 1.2 percent.
In its spring forecast, the German government had also lowered the expected increase in gross domestic product for 2019 from 1.0 to 0.5 percent. For 2020, the German government is expecting GDP growth of 1.5 percent.
