German industrial production contracted 4 per cent month-on-month in August, the biggest decline in over five years and much worse than expected – fuelling fears that even the eurozone’s economic powerhouse is now flirting with a recession. Germany’s economy unexpectedly shrank 0.2 per cent in the second quarter, and subsequent economic data have been muddled at best, sparking concerns that the common currency area’s biggest and most influential member could slip into a technical recession. Economists had only expected industrial production to fall 1.5 per cent in August, and last month’s 1.9 per cent gain was today revised down to 1.6 per cent. On an annualised basis, industrial production dived 2.8 per cent in August, compared to expectations of only a 0.5 per cent decline from the same month last year. The data was “another shocker” for the German economy, wrote Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING. Such a […]