Although the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators for Germany declined a tenth of a percent to 106.9 (1990=100) in May, the latest month for which data are available, the near-term forecast is for a continuation of moderate growth.
There are a couple of reasons, indicates the New York-based business research group. One is that strengths among the leading economic indicators have been "somewhat" more widespread than have weaknesses in recent months. Another is that GDP, adjusted for inflation, grew at an annual rate of 1.5% during the first calendar quarter of this year, slightly faster than the 1.3% average annual rate during the second half of 2005.
