Top institutes see record German growth in 2011: Report

BERLIN: Germany's top economic institutes expect record growth in Europe's biggest economy this year, before it eases in 2011 to a still solid level of two percent, reports said Wednesday.

The institutes will forecast gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.5 percent in 2010 when they officially publish their twice-yearly review on Thursday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) and Handelsblatt said.

This is a sharp upwards revision from the 1.5 percent forecast previously in April and would represent a record, according to EU statistics for reunified Germany.

In 2006, the German economy expanded 3.4 percent, the European Union's statistics service Eurostat says.

In addition, the institutes expect the number of unemployed to drop below the psychologically important three-million mark, according to the FAZ.

In 2009, Germany laboured under its worst recession for more than six decades, with the economy shrinking 4.7 percent.

The government is poised to release updated forecasts for growth later this month and has already indicated they will be revised higher.

The economic recovery is being driven mainly by exports as global demand increases for goods "made in Germany," the world's second largest exporter after China.