The German economy expanded by 1.9 percent in 2022 and is expected to have flatlined in last year’s fourth quarter, escaping the contraction that would have initiated a recession, the Financial Times reported.

The economy probably was jolted into positive territory by government support programs and by the lifting of COVID-related lockdowns, the FT noted.

Consumer spending grew by 4.6 percent last year as Germany emerged from the COVID War, the national statistics agency said. The country’s factory production notched a 0.6-percent increase in November.

As a result, a German recession this year would be less damaging than has been predicted previously, according to the nonprofit Ifo Institute, a German economic research center.

A recession would now shrink the economy by 0.1 percent, not the 0.3 percent the institute had foreseen late last year, it said.

The country’s inflation rate will average 6.4 percent this year and 2.8 percent in 2024, the institute predicted.

“According to current data, the economic slowdown [this winter] will be milder and shorter than expected,” the economics ministry said in a public statement, adding that the economy had proven to be “gratifyingly resilient.”

“Decisive action last year helped us take control of the crisis,” economics minister Robert Habeck added, by enacting a series of government grants, loans, and other forms of support.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The fact that Germany’s economy avoided a recession because the government poured money into it through every orifice does not mean the economy is “resilient.”  It means the economy is on life support.

The real test of resilience will come when supports end–especially if the money spigot is turned off during the first half of this year while the global economy is still teetering on the edge of recession, or later when a recession has appeared.