Bundesbank: German economy picked up in winter months

Economic momentum in Germany seems to have picked up noticeably in the winter months, the Bundesbank central bank wrote in its monthly report on Monday. "The underlying dynamics of the German economy are likely to have increased in the winter months," the Bundesbank said. "An indication of this is the continued improvement in the assessment of both situation and outlook of companies and private households," the report said. But the pick-up would likely only be reflected in gross domestic product growth after the turn of the year, it continued. The main factors behind the acceleration were continued robust domestic demand and increased impulses from foreign demand, the Bundesbank wrote. Last week, official GDP data showed that German growth picked up fractionally at the end of last year, propelled by buoyant exports and increased investment. GDP grew by 0.4 percent in the period from October to December, slightly faster than analysts' expectations, and was up from growth of 0.3 percent in the preceding three months, the federal statistics office Destatis said.