The German economy expanded by 0.7% in the third quarter of 2009 from the previous three-months, official data show today as Europe's biggest economy emerges from its worst post-war recession.
New figures out today also show that the French economy grew by 0.3% in the three month period from July to September.
Euro zone exits deepest recession since WW2
Germany's Destatis statistics office revised an initial estimate for the second quarter slightly higher, to growth of 0.4% from 0.3% previously.
Analysts said that the German economy has emerged from the deep recession earlier and faster than many had thought. They had, however, expected third quarter growth of 0.8% for Europe's biggest economy.
On a 12-month basis, activity contracted by 4.8% when corrected for calendar effects, in line with forecasts and an improvement from the revised decrease of 5.8% in the second quarter.
Germany's export-oriented economy was slammed by the global downturn, but is now benefitting from fresh demand for its machine tools, cars and chemical products.
Destatis confirmed that growth was being driven by exports, corporate investment and construction, while private consumption had waned.
Karl-Theodore zu Guttenberg, then economy minister, had forecast in October that the economy would grow by 1.2% in 2010, a much improved outlook from April.
Germany has recovered quicker than many of its neighbours, spurred on by huge injections of cash - some €80 billion - from the government. The International Monetary Fund hiked its forecast for Germany last month, predicting 2010 output of 0.3%.
The country still faces the prospect of rising unemployment however, despite subsidised shorter working hours that have limited the damage. Officials now expect the number of jobless to average 4.1 million people next year, many fewer than feared at the height of the economic crisis.
French economy set to grow further in fourth quarter
France's economy grew 0.3% in the third quarter of the year and is expected to gather speed in the fourth, an upbeat Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said today.
While still weighed down by high unemployment, France has resisted the global slowdown better than many other major economies and escaped from a year-long recession in the second quarter of this year.
But while the government hailed today's figures as a sign that France has turned the corner, experts expressed disappointment that third quarter growth had fallen short of expectations and voiced pessimism for 2010.
'I hope we'll finish the year firing on all cylinders. The data and confidence numbers that we have now give us reason to hope,' Lagarde told Europe 1 radio in an interview from Singapore.
While the French economy will have shrunk overall by 2.5% over 2009 because of the steep downturn at the start of the year, she said growth has turned around and 'we'll start 2010 with momentum, that's sure.'
The French economy is now seen to have grown by 0.3% for two quarters in a row, and the French central bank predicted this week that it will grow by 0.5% in the last three months of the year.
France's slow recovery has so far, however, not translated into the creation of new jobs. The national statistics institute forecasts that the French jobless rate would reach 10.1% by the end of 2009.
