German exports fell by 1.8% in August from July while imports increased by 1.1%, according to the national German statistics office. On an annual basis, exports fell by 20% from August 2008 and imports by 19.3%. In January to August exports to the non-euro area were down by 26.4%.

GDP in the sixteen-country eurozone fell by 0.2% in the second quarter from the first quarter and by 4.8% from a year earlier.

The IMF forecasts that the German, French and Spanish economies will contract by 5.3%. 2.4% and 3.8% respectively in 2009. In 2010 the IMF expects Germany to grow by 0.3%, France to grow by 0.9% and Spain to suffer a further contraction of 0.7%.

For the eurozone as a whole the IMF predicted a 4.2% contraction in 2009 and 0.3% growth in 2010. “Demand from Asia will not be strong enough to substitute for demand from the United States,” commented Marek Belka, Director of the IMF’s European Department.