Germany still plays "an anchor role" in eurozone

BERLIN - Berlin reacted calmly over ratings agency Moody's lowering its outlook on late Monday, saying that Germany will maintain itself in sound economic and financial status and continue to play "an anchor role" in the crisis-hit eurozone.

Shortly after Moody's lowered the economic outlook for Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg from "stable" to "negative," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a statement that he has noted the opinion of the rating agency, but "the risks it mentioned in the euro area are not new, and the assessments mainly focus on short-term risks."

The minister said facing the debt crisis, the eurozone has taken a series of measures that would lead to "a sustainable stabilization."

Germany is "unchanged in its sound economic and financial situation," and Berlin will do everything together with its partners to overcome the crisis while exercising an anchor role of stability in the eurozone, Schaeuble said.

In the assessment, Moody's said that Germany, even with the top AAA rate, faced increasing risks and burdens from the possibility of a Greek exit from the eurozone and full bailouts for Spain and Italy.

"The level of uncertainty about the outlook for the euro area, and the potential impact of plausible scenarios on member states, is no longer consistent with stable outlooks," it said.

Following a slight contraction of 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011, Germany, Europe's largest economy, quickly rebounded with a strong growth of 0.5 percent from January to March, marking the country as an oasis in the desert of two-year-long eurozone debt crisis.

However, recent surveys showed that Germany's business and investment confidences are swaying due to the deteriorating situation in Spain and Greece, both faced with high unemployment, economic contraction as well as debt mountains.

Official data showed that the decline was Germany's jobless was the weakest in June compared to the same month after 2002, adding signs that the crisis are eroding the vigor of the country's exports and industries.

The German government had expected the country's economy would grow 0.7 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2013.