The German economy, which accounts for around one third of economic activity in the entire euro zone, has not grown now for two consecutive quarters, the Bundesbank estimated today.
And analysts suggested that if the biggest euro-zone were not actually already in a technical recession, it was not long before it would slip into one.
The Bundesbank wrote in its November monthly report that, according to its preliminary estimations, the German economy stagnated in the third quarter for the second quarter in a row.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter "only just matched" the levels attained in the preceding three months, the German central bank estimated.
Official third-quarter growth figures were not scheduled to be released until Thursday, so the Bundesbank remained deliberately vague.
But economists suggested the central bank's latest snapshot could be preparing the way for a much bleaker assessment when the Federal Statistics Office publishes its official GDP figures on Thursday.
"Stagnation in the third quarter is more likely to have meant minus 0.1 percent than 0.0 percent," said Commerzbank economist Mr Ralph Solveen.
Indeed, the second-quarter rate of change -- originally reported as zero -"will probably have been revised down also to minus 0.1 per cent," Mr Solveen suggested.
AFP