German business sentiment rose for the third month in a row in January, beating expectations and offering further evidence that Europe's largest economy is shrugging off a sovereign debt crisis that has hammered growth in other euro zone countries.

The Munich-based Ifo think tank said today its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 companies, rose to 108.3 in January from a revised 107.3 in December.

A Reuters poll of 39 economists forecast the index would rise to 107.5.

A sub-index on expectations posted the biggest monthly climb since July 2010, a sign businesses are confident that Europe's powerhouse will return to healthy growth from the second quarter of the year. It rose to 100.9 from a revised 98.6.

Germany has been resilient in the face of troubles elsewhere in the euro zone, as fiscal prudence, steady demand for its high-quality products, and high competitiveness have helped it weather a tough global environment.But its economy slowed at the end of last year and some economists see a risk of two consecutive quarters of contraction - the technical definition of a recession - in the fourth quarter of 2011 and first quarter of 2012.

Germany's government predicts the economy will grow 0.1 per cent in the first quarter.

"There are no signs of a recession," said Ifo economist Klaus Abberger, pointing to the euro zone debt crisis as the main risk to the German outlook.

Germany was the only country in the euro zone to retain a top-grade AAA credit rating with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor's, after the rating agency's mass downgrade of countries using the single currency earlier this month.Ifo's sub-index on current conditions fell to 116.3 from 116.7 in December.

Reuters