Risks Remain for German Economy

Germany's chief banker, Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke, said Thursday the German economy was more likely to worsen rather than improve. "The risks of an economic deterioration are greater than the upward risks for Europe and Germany," he told reporters in Frankfurt. Welteke, who is also a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, seemed to contradict the ECB's latest monthly report in which the dangers to Germany's slowly recovering economy were said to be "broadly balanced." He did, however, concede that it was feasible the German economy, the biggest in Europe and the one hardest hit by an overall market downturn, could grow by two percent this year.