German IfW institute expects recession, cuts growth forecasts for 2019, 2020

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German economy will slide into a recession in the current quarter, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) said on Wednesday as it slashed its growth forecasts for Europe's biggest economy due to trade disputes and Brexit uncertainty.

The IfW institute said it expected the German economy to contract by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter after a 0.1% contraction in the previous quarter.

The institute also cut its 2019 growth forecast for the German economy to 0.4% from 0.6% previously and said it sees a growth rate of 1.0% for 2020, down from its earlier estimate of 1.6%.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber,; Editing by Tassilo Hummel)