Awwal 21, 1432 H/Feb 24, 2011, SPA -- Germany's budget deficit came in at 3.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, lower than previously estimated and only just above the limit set by European Union rules, official data showed Thursday, according to AP. The figure compares with an initial estimate given in January of 3.5 percent. Germany last year exceeded the 3 percent limit set for members of the 17-nation eurozone for the first time in five years. Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, managed a small budget surplus in 2007 and 2008 but the deficit expanded to 3 percent in 2009 as the government bolstered the economy with stimulus programs. Its finances remain in far healthier shape than those of many eurozone partners and the deficit is expected to fall back below the EU limit this year, with Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle saying it could fall to about 2.5 percent. The German economy's spectacular comeback last year was a key factor in keeping the deficit under control. The Federal Statistical Office confirmed on Thursday its initial estimate that the economy grew by 0.4 percent in the fourth-quarter compared with the previous three-month period. That was the weakest performance of any quarter in 2010, but an early spell of harsh winter weather bore much of the blame. A falloff in construction activity shaved 0.4 percentage points off growth, as did a drop in inventories; but exports, which have driven the recovery, added 0.7 percentage points. Private consumption also increased. Surging business confidence and other healthy indicators «suggest that the economic recovery is so well underpinned that again more robust growth should be observed in early 2011,» IHS Global Insight economist Timo Klein said. He pointed to growing momentum from domestic demand, with consumer spending being helped by a bright outlook for the job market.
