Germany’s economic growth has slowed

The German economy managed to grow in 2008, although the growth slowed to almost half the rate of 2007, the government said Wednesday.

The Federal Statistics Office said Germany’s gross domestic product grew 1.3 percent last year, after growing 2.5 percent in 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Economists had forecast growth of 1.4 percent.

An initial estimate put fourth quarter growth between minus 1.5 percent and minus 2 percent, the largest quarterly drop since 1990, when East and West Germany unified their economies.

The negative trend is expected to continue, with predictions of a contraction between 2 percent and 3 percent in 2009.

German exports rose 3.9 percent in 2008, while imports rose 5.2 percent. Combined, the trade gap subtracted 0.3 percentage points from the country’s economic growth rate, the Journal said.