German companies upbeat amidst euro crisis

Even as the outlook remains bleak for Britain in the new year, with more lay-offs and creeping unemployment, over 80 per cent of German manufacturing companies are optimistic of steady business or improvement in the next year.

The German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) says in its latest report that around 60,000 new jobs would be created as a result.

The projections came as the German economy minister insisted Europe's biggest economy would be in fine fettle next year, tougher international climate and the fallout of the euro zone's debt crisis notwithstanding.

"Our economy is looking very robust, even if the economic climate both internationally and on a European level has become more difficult," Philipp Rösler, head of chancellor Angela Merkel's Free Democrat (FDP) told Handelsblatt daily.

More optimism was voiced by a government economic adviser who said Germany would avoid recession..

Rösler, argued that domestic consumption, which accounted for around 53 per cent of gross domestic product, was increasingly supporting growth.