BERLIN - A BLUE-RIBBON panel of experts said on Wednesday that German economic growth will grind to a halt next year, raising doubts about Berlin's plans to shield Europe's biggest economy from the global turmoil.
In their regular autumn report, the group of independent economic advisors to the government said that growth next year would be zero percent and criticised Berlin's efforts to head off the crisis.
'Gross domestic product will stagnate next year' after an expected gain of 1.7 per cent this year, according to the economists. Berlin has projected growth of 0.2 per cent in 2009.
As a result, unemployment is set to rise by 1.1 percentage points next year, the report predicted.
The economists said that 'the conditions are in place to talk about recession', given the brutal nature of the slowdown.
The experts also sharply criticised the government's package of measures designed to jumpstart the economy, describing it as a 'hotch-potch of isolated projects designed to give the impression that the government is doing something'.
The government will on Thursday publish figures for growth in the third quarter and if it contracted for the second three-month-period running, as widely expected, the world's top exporter will already be officially in recession. -- AFP
