Institute: Economic Recovery First in Summer

A leading German economic think tank reported on Monday it doesn't expect the country's economic doldrums to turn around until the second half of 2003. The Halle Institute for Economic Research said economic indicators suggest continuing stagnation with a upswing occurring next summer at the earliest. The institute said it expects 1.1 percent growth in Germany's gross domestic product next year. At the same time, it is also reckoning with further deterioration of the country's labor market -- bad news in a time when the jobless level is hovering around the psychologically important four million mark.