Peter Altmaier (CDU), Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, wobbles at the milling head of the sensing machine at the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Hanover. (picture alliance/dpa)
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier on Thursday brushed off concerns about Germany's economy, despite the signs of a recession increasing in recent months.
"After years of strong growth, we are currently in an economic downturn, but not in a recession," Altmaier told newspapers of the Funke media group in an interview published Thursday.
"We have to wait and see how the third and fourth quarter develop. We expect that there will be moderate growth for the whole of 2019," he said.
However, the minister also said that in light of the German economy shrinking in the second quarter, the government needed to "improve the framework for economic growth" as soon as possible.
He called for a corporate tax reform to be implemented to help business partnerships in particular.
Altmaier said he was not in favour of passing an economic stimulus package, however, saying they merely end up "burning money away."
Altmaier said the European Union should "double" its efforts to find a trade agreement with the US, and said he hoped the issue would be a priority for the incoming European Commission.
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