GERMANY’S HOPES of economic recovery have been set back by unexpectedly sharp falls in exports and industrial production that underline the fragility of Europe’s largest economy.

German exports in April were 4.8 per cent lower than in March and 28.7 per cent down on a year earlier, official figures show – the steepest annual fall since records began in 1950, although officials said April 2008 had been exceptionally buoyant.

Separately, the economics ministry reported industrial production was down by 1.9 per cent in April compared with March. Economists had expected a small rise.

Germany’s export-led industrial sector is crucial to European economic prospects. Industrial production slumped in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse last September as demand for exports evaporated. German gross domestic product fell by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

Carsten Brzeski of ING bank said the figures were “a clear warning against any over-hasty optimism”.

But the economics ministry said the chances had improved of a “bottoming out in industrial production”. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)