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The German government has revised its growth forecasts for 2019 to 0.8%. This is the second consecutive downgrade of forecasts in less than two months.

“The federal government expects growth of 0.8% in 2019”, says the paper of the Finance Ministry.

The weakening world economy, the risks of escalating trade and political risks in Europe, such as Brexit and the financial situation in Italy, are among the reasons for the slowdown in the economy.

In January, the German government lowered its growth expectations from 1.8% to 1%.

Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also revised down its forecast for Germany’s growth from 0.9% to 0.7%.

Meanwhile, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed that Germany’s exports remained unchanged in January compared to December at a level of 108.9 billion EUR while imports rose by 1.5% to 94.4 billion EUR. On an annual basis, German exports increased by 1.7% and imports by 5%.

The foreign trade balance of the country registered a surplus of 14.5 billion EUR in January compared to 17.2 billion EUR a year earlier. According to the seasonally adjusted data, the surplus in January is worth 18.5 billion EUR.

In January this year, Germany exported goods worth 65.3 billion EUR to the EU Member States, while imports worth 51.7 billion EUR. Compared to January 2018, the exports to the EU countries increased by 0.6%, while imports rose by 3.7%.

The exports of goods to countries outside the European Union (third countries) amounted to 43.5 billion EUR in January 2019, while imports from these countries amounted to 42.7 billion EUR. Compared to January 2018, exports to third countries grew by 3.3% and imports from these countries by 6.5%.