Exports from Germany fell back again in December after suffering a record fall in November. This only confirms the general impression that the German recession is steadily deepening. Sales abroad, adjusted for working days and seasonal changes, were 3.7 percent from November, (when they dropped 10.8 percent), and by 7.7% year on year, according to the Federal Statistics Office this morning.

The German government estimates that the was a 2% quarterly drop in GDP in the last quarter of 2008 (an 8% annual contraction rate of 8%) and expects the economy to contract 2.25 percent this year.