德国经济形势急剧下滑

Growth in the German economy slowed sharply between April and June, and was weaker at the start of the year than previously¹ thought, figures show.

数据显示，四月至六月德国经济增长急剧下滑，年初时的经济形势也比预期要差。

The economy grew by just 0.1% in the quarter, according to provisional（临时的） figures from the national statistics office, while growth in the first three months of the year was 1.3%.

Previous figures had estimated growth of 1.5% in the first quarter.

Germany had been driving the economic recovery in the eurozone.

The weak German growth figures are expected to raise further questions about the strength of the eurozone economy, particularly in light of figures released last week showing that French economic growth came to a standstill（停滞） between April and June.

Growth figures for the rest of the eurozone will be released this morning.

Balanced budgets

German Chancellor² Angela Merkel is meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy later to discuss how best to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.

Both leaders, along with the European Central Bank, are putting pressure on so-called peripheral³（外围的） economies to extend austerity measures to try to balance their budgets.

However, there are also fears that spending cuts by governments will undermine overall economic growth.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, the head of the International Monetary⁴ Fund, Christine Lagarde, warned governments that they must balance spending cuts with measures to support growth to avoid the risk of a double-dip recession.

Ms Lagarde acknowledged the need for governments to reduce debt levels, but said slamming on the brakes too quickly would hurt the recovery and worsen job prospects⁵.