German economic advisors slash 2018 growth forecast to 1.6 percent: report

BERLIN (Reuters) - Economic advisors to the German government have slashed their forecast for growth this year to 1.6 percent from their previous prediction of 2.3 percent, a group of newspapers reported on Tuesday.

The NBR group of local newspapers said the advisors cited the weaker global economic environment, fears about a trade war with United States and the risk of Britain quitting the European Union in a disorderly fashion as reasons for reducing their forecasts.

The advisors, who are due to present their report on Wednesday, also expect capacity bottlenecks like a shortage of skilled labour to hit growth but they do not expect slower growth to have a negative impact on labour market, NBR said.

 

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, editing by Riham Alkousaa)