FRANKFURT: The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew only fractionally at the start of 2013 as the freezing winter weather put the brakes on activity, official data showed on Tuesday.
German gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by just 0.1 percent in the period from January to March, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated in a preliminary estimate.
Analysts had been expecting a slightly bigger rebound of around 0.3 percent after the economy shrank by a revised 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"The extreme winter weather conditions played a role in this weak growth at the beginning of the year," Destatis said in a statement.
"According to our calculations, the only positive impulses came from private households which increased their spending at the start of the year."
In foreign trade, imports fell sharply and exports also declined, the statisticians said, without providing a more precise breakdown of the different GDP components.
Detailed growth figures are scheduled to be released on May 24.
Unlike most of its eurozone neighbours, Germany has been spared the worst of the region's long and debilitating sovereign debt crisis, even if growth slowed noticeably in the latter part of 2012.
But the government, the Bundesbank and the economic think-tanks are all projecting a return to growth this year.
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