Germany's economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter compared to the quarter before, the state statistical agency said 14 August 2003, confirming the country slid into a shallow recession.
The second-quarter figure follows a 0.2 per cent contraction in the first quarter; two consecutive quarters of falling output is one common definition of recession.
Technically, Germany was already in a recession, since the zero growth figure from the last quarter of 2002 was rounded up from a minuscule 0.03 per cent drop.
Germany is mired in a third year of near-zero growth, a source of political embarrassment to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder because the weak growth hasn't been enough to create new jobs.
