A series of data from Germany show that the country has not yet emerged from the manufacturing recession, the Hong Kong-based Wande News Agency reported. Looking ahead, Germany's own recession crisis may be "good news" because its usual opposition to fiscal stimulus may change.

Data from Germany's Ifo Institute for Economic Research (Ifo economic institute) on Monday showed that German business confidence rose in November, and Europe's largest economy is expected to grow by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, as Germany's domestic economic strength can temporarily offset the recession in manufacturing.

Ifo Business Environment report:

• Ifo Business Environment Index is 95.0, expected to be 94.9

• The previous 94.6 was upgraded to 94.7

• The business expectation index is expected to be 92.5, but actually 91.5 points.

The main points of Ifo's comments:

• German manufacturing is still in deep recession

• There are signs that the business environment will be better this Christmas.

• GDP growth is expected to be + 0.2% in the fourth quarter.

The negligible rebound in Germany's Ifo data has left its manufacturing industry in a "state of recession".

Munich-based Ifo said its business climate index rose to 95.0 in November from 94.7 in October. Thomas Gitzel, an economist at VP Bank, said one thing was clear that growth would not plummet for the time being, but he said the Ifo's warning that manufacturing was "still in recession" was worrying. "it is worth noting that the bad situation in the manufacturing sector will spread to the service industry in the future," Gitzel said. The danger facing the German economy has never been avoided. Household spending in the euro zone, for example, appears to have held steady, but Eurostat data showed that 33000 people lost their jobs in September, the second increase in three months. The agency raised its unemployment forecast for august to 7.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent and said the unemployment rate remained unchanged at that level in September.

Europe's largest economy is going through a period of weakness as export-oriented manufacturers cope with the global economic slowdown, the woes of the car industry and the uncertainty brought about by Britain's departure from the EU. Detailed data released on Friday showed that strong exports, government spending and consumers helped the German economy avoid recession in the third quarter. The following picture shows the euro zone, compared with the US economy over the past few years:

Klaus Wohlrabe, an economist at Ifo, said it was too early to talk about an improvement in the German economy. German companies told the Ifo that the backlog of industrial orders was still unsatisfactory. The coalition government led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected the stimulus package proposed by industry groups and economists to put the German economy firmly back on the growth track. This year, the German economy has been dependent on consumption, while exports are weakening, resulting in a 0.2 per cent contraction in GDP in the second quarter. Economists have been urging the German government to abandon its policy of not increasing net debt, saying it should borrow to finance the stimulus package. The government seems to be betting on the possibility of an improvement in the global economy to revive German manufacturing. For now, the German government's calculations may be wrong.

The new ECB president is lobbying EU countries to increase fiscal stimulus, especially for Germany

As we all know, simple interest rate cuts will not help much in the euro zone. For the first time on Friday, Christine Lagarde, in her capacity as president of the ECB, called on European governments to increase public investment and strengthen the co-ordination of services, banking and capital markets to rebalance the eurozone economy from exports to domestic demand. She said Europe faced an "opportunity moment" to meet the challenges posed by the global economic slowdown.

The new ECB president distinguishes general government spending from "productive spending, which includes spending on research and development and education, in addition to infrastructure". In most eurozone countries, productive investment as a share of overall public spending has declined, while "new investment needs are emerging", she said. The ECB will "continue to support the economy and deal with future risks", adding that monetary policy "cannot and should not be the only option". She promised to "continuously monitor the side effects of monetary policy" and said the ECB would conduct a strategic review of its policy objectives and tools for the first time since 2003 "in the near future".

The extension of slow growth in the eurozone highlights the magnitude of the challenges facing Christine Lagarde, the new ECB president. She will face divisions among other monetary policymakers and the inertia of eurozone governments, which have proved unwilling to provide much stimulus through spending increases or tax cuts. The performance of the 19-country eurozone shows that it is one of the weakest regions in the global economy that has generally cooled this year, and that many of its cross-border business prospects have become difficult to predict.