Berlin - German business confidence rose for the eighth consecutive month in November, analysts predict a key survey to be released Tuesday will say, as signs emerge that recovery is gaining ground in Europe's biggest economy. In a major test of the economic mood in Europe, the closely- watched Ifo business confidence index is projected to rise to 92.5 points after it climbed to 91.9 in October - its highest level in more than a year.
Drawn up by the Munich-based Ifo economic research institute, the Ifo index's predicted rise comes despite the euro's recent strong performance in recent months, which has fuelled concerns about the outlook for Germany's key export machine.
But based on a survey of 7,000 executives, the release of the Ifo index is also likely to be accompanied by a Germany statistics office confirmation that the nation's economy posted a solid 0.7-per-cent growth rate in the three months to the end of the year.
Germany will grow by about 1.5 per cent in 2010 after shrinking by a sharp 4.9 per cent this year, the Paris-based Organization of Cooperation Economic and Development (OECD) predicted in its latest economic outlook report published last week.
The OECD previously forecast a German growth rate next year of a feeble 0.2 per cent.
However, underscoring the lingering sense of uncertainty about the upswing underway in Germany, investor confidence in the nation posted its second consecutive monthly fall in November, a survey released this month showed.
The Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research's (ZEW) monthly index measuring the mood among German analysts and institutional investors slipped to 51.1 points this month.
Analysts had expected the ZEW index, which was based on a survey of 287 analysts, would drop to 54 points in November after it declined to 56.0 points in October.
Indeed, concerns have set in that a pickup in unemployment combined with the euro's ascent could end up slowing the pace of the German economy's recovery from what has been its biggest downturn in more than 60 years.
Combined with this, economists are worried that the winding back of the German government's 85-billion-euro (126-billion-dollar) fiscal stimulus plan next year along with a buildup in global public debt could also undercut the nation's recovery from recession.
